ACT 7: STREET FIGHTER Return to the Shadows
by noctorro
Summary: Sequel to The Successor, Kenny returns to Osaka just in time for the Street Fighter II tournaments. His presence alerts the World Warriors and Shadowlaw alike and, as always, disaster ensues.
1. Introduction: The Successor

**THE TOURNAMENTS**

Nine years ago, a Street Fighter tournament was held in Osaka, Japan, the third and final bout of the Alpha series. The tournament involved combatants called from all corners of the globe battling each other in a no holds barred competition for the title of champion Street Fighter. It seemed like a simple straight forward competition. But beneath its sportsmanship surface laid a far darker secret.

****

**SHADOWLAW**

The tournaments were secretly funded by a crime organization that went by the name of Shadowlaw. The true purpose of the tournament was to gather physical information on each of the fighters and determine which of them would best serve as brainwashed, Shadowlaw agents, and which would serve as live, human batteries for the ultimate weapon of mass destruction – a satellite controlled laser based weapon disguised as a reclining statue of Buddha, situated in Thailand.

****

**THE DOLLS**

Shadowlaw had one of the best scientific and technological divisions in the world, far superior than that of rival organizations, equaled only by an American based, pharmaceutical company, Umbrella Incorporated. The Shadowlaw scientific branch was responsible for creating technologically brilliant yet inhuman projects such as the "Doll Program." This involved the abductions of thirteen girls similar in age and build and putting them through a mentally torturous memory erasing procedure. The result was thirteen mindless bodies ready to be programmed to serve as Shadowlaw's elite forces known only as "The Dolls." The Doll Program met its end after the third Street Fighter Alpha tournament, and all thirteen members of the squad returned home with their memories restored, with the exception of one – Cammy White of a branch of the British Special Forces, Delta Red.

****

**THE SHADOW TECHNOLOGY**

Another of Shadowlaw's projects was a technology that worked with the biological makeup of a subject, enhancing physical capabilities while simultaneously shutting off and individual's mind. Spear headed by a Shadowlaw scientist named Dr. Feng, the Shadow Technology was similar to the technology behind the Doll Program in that it also provided well trained soldiers with enhanced fighting abilities and blank minds for which to upload commands to. The Shadow Technology has been tested on both Charlie Nash of the United States Air Force, and Agent Chun Li of Interpol's Chinese division. The subjects displayed superior fighting abilities but the technology eventually crashed in their bodies, due to the efforts of the original Shadow Soldier, Kenneth Feng.

****

**KENNETH FENG**

He is the son of the scientist who spearheaded the Shadow Technology Project. Upon completion of the technology, Dr. Feng experienced an ill-timed change of heart – realizing that his work would rob people of their own bodies and use them to serve Shadowlaw. His morality taking priority over his sense of duty as a scientist, Dr. Feng attempted to rid himself of the Shadow Technology by selling it to a company rival to Shadowlaw, Umbrella Incorporated. But before the transaction could be completed, Shadowlaw caught onto his actions and ordered Dr. Feng's assassination. In a last ditch attempt to keep his work from them, Dr. Feng embedded the Shadow Technology in a single data chip and hid it inside his six year old son, Kenneth. But he didn't expect the technology to manifest itself within Kenneth who became, by pure accident, the first Shadow Soldier.

****

**ACT 1: THE SUCCESSOR**

Shortly after the assassination of Dr. Feng and his family, authorities confirmed the dead bodies not only of Dr. Feng and his wife, but the assassins as well. Kenneth was nowhere to be found, and the authorities alerted Interpol, placing him on the international missing persons list. Shadowlaw was aware of the developments as well, after a failed mission. Only one of their two objectives had been met. Dr. Feng had been killed, but the Shadow Technology was not procured. Details of the bodies found at the Feng residence as graphic – the bodies dismembered, and charred, as if sliced apart neatly but powerfully, just before a huge fire ravaged the building and its dead occupants. And the fact that Kenneth seemed to have escaped with his life convinced Shadowlaw's leader, M. Bison that there was something suspicious about the child, and ordered his kidnapping.

Kenneth, meanwhile was stranded on the streets of Osaka living as a thief under his newly adopted older brother, Craig Crankurt. The two, in a matter of days, began addressing each other as Kenny and Cranky and Kenny's life had begun anew.

Meanwhile, during the developments of the Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament, twin Shotokan masters Ken and Ryu had just arrived in Osaka – the former from the United States, the latter from a rural part of Japan. The two friends were meeting up after years apart when they discovered Ryu was being stalked by a third practitioner of their martial art, the only practitioner who had mastered the dark side of their art – Akuma. Akuma, due to his aging body, was looking for a successor to the Satsui no Hadou, a murderous energy inside his body that allowed him to endure the dark Shotokan arts. He had deemed Ryu worthy – but Ryu was all but willing to accept it.

From there, Ryu and Ken encounter Kenny, a six year old thief trying to stay alive on the streets and take kindly to the boy – and then Shadowlaw caught up with him. Caught between the struggle of fighting the Satsui no Hadou and preventing Shadowlaw from harvesting the Shadow Technology in Kenny's body, Ryu and Ken enlisted the help of Interpol Agent Chun Li, Air Force Pilot William Guile, Bushin Masters Guy and Maki and their Metro City hero friend Cody, and various other significant faces in the Street Fighter circuit to help bring down Shadowlaw once and for all.

The result was a deadly explosion at the base of Mt. Fuji, the source coming from deep within the Shadowlaw base. Charlie Nash died that day. And for the second time, Kenny was nowhere to be found, believed to have passed on in the explosion.

****

**ACT 5: RETURN TO THE SHADOWS**

And the story continues …


	2. Chapter 1: Second Time Around

"Irashaimase!" A blooming teenager bowed his head humbly, letting his jet-black bangs hang, obscuring his smooth, youthful face. The color of his hair and eyes contrasted sharply with his pale, yellow tinged skin. He would normally stick out in a crowd of diverse people, but there was no such thing here. This was downtown Osaka, and everybody that passed his bowed head looked just like him. But they weren't. It was hard being a person of Chinese ancestry living in Japan. Discrimination against other oriental cultures was occasional, subtle, but strong. Combine that with the fact that with such a conservative culture, people often harbored ignorant, stereotypical views towards street bums, life was extremely tough for a teen trying to make his mark on the world … a teen like Kenneth Feng.

But Kenny never let any of that bother him. He did his job … working as a waiter in one of Osaka's many okonomiyaki food joints … with diligence, his head held higher than anybody else's, even with his shorter stature.

"Kenny – kun," a deep voice boomed, one that he recognized as being the voice of his boss. "Osoi yo."

"Fuck you," Kenny hissed under his breath. "I got here five minutes early, I'm not late!" He turned around to face his boss, an even shorter man than he was with a pot-belly and a receding hairline. He plastered a fake smile onto his face and spoke politely to his superior. "Sou desu ga, kesa hayaku kitan desu …"

"Hayaku kitandakedo, soto de tabako wo suttanda yo!" That was impossible. How did the boss know he'd be smoking outside? Kenny made absolutely sure he made no noise as he went outside for his pre-shift cigarette. It must've been the smell.

Spending a good deal of his life in Raccoon City down in the United States, Kenny grew up with the habit of taking no shit from anybody. But in a deeply rooted Asian culture, such new age sentiment was not looked fondly upon. So Kenny just bit his lip and bowed his head for the thousandth time that day."Hontou ni sumimasen." He hated suppressing that mouthy part of him. It was never easy for him to curb the snappy words that threatened to spill forth from his lips.

"Raishuu kimi ga osokattara …" The boss wagged his finger at him, about to threaten Kenny if he was late again next week.

"Wakarimashita!" One thousand and one! Again, bowing his head, simultaneously cutting his boss off in mid sentence. He couldn't help but let a little mischievous grin spread across his face, unseen to the boss for his face was now facing the floor. Kenny said he understood, but in reality, he could've caredless what his boss thought. The guy was a fat bully anyway. Today wasn't the first time he tried to bust Kenny for doing something wrong. His co-workers knew he was a hard working kid. It was just that fat jerk, the only one who had a bone to pick with him for no apparent reason.

Kenny's boss, Mr. Takayama spun on his heals, "Like a revolving planet," Kenny thought, and stomped off into the kitchen. He pulled a pen from behind his ear and proceeded back to the front of the restaurant to greet an approaching guest. A pleasant ringing sound dinged throughout the restaurant, alerting its employees to a new customer. Kenny bowed his head again, "Irashai …"

But the customer stared strangely at him with green eyes, behind locks of bright red hair. Now here was somebody different … "So submissive," the foreigner half joked, "I'm not used to seeing you like this, Kenny."

Kenny looked up from the ground. His eyes widened in surprise at the other young man, looking at least a decade or so more mature. "Cranky!" he wrapped his arms around the foreigner's waist, as the other did the same, both laughing obnoxiously and wanting to cry.

"You little shit," Cranky said, looking his friend up and down. "It's been so long since I've seen you. You've grown!"

"God, how long has it been?" Kenny asked. "About nine years, I think."

"You didn't tell me you were going down to America to live for awhile!" "I wanted a good education. And since English has been the fad in Japan for … how long now … I decided to do something about my future."

"How long have you been back?" Cranky asked.

"About a month."

"And you landed a job this quickly? I'm proud of you, man. You got time for a smoke?"

"Hold on, let me ask my supervisor," Kenny replied. There was no way in hell he was going to ask Mr. Takayama. So he approached one of the waitresses instead. "Ohirugohan wo tabeni ittemo ii desu ka?" He asked for lunch, but a cigarette was what he really needed.

"Hai," the girl replied politely, bowing her head back. She only did it because Kenny was a boy and she was a girl, another form of discrimination he didn't like about this country. "Chotto Takayama-san ni oshiete ni ikimasu ne." Oh god, she was going to tell the boss.

"Let's get out of here," Kenny suggested, running for the door with Cranky trailing behind. The pair of them left the building through the front door, both of them pulling a pack of cigarettes from their pockets. Cranky reached over and handed Kenny his pack, receiving a curious look as a result.

"I've held onto these for you, since before you left," he said, smiling.

"Aww, thanks!" Kenny replied, happily taking it. "I wonder if they're still good."

"Smoking is never good," Cranky retorted, not unlike a parent would. "And I hoped you would've quit by now."

"Hey, if you don't smoke, why did you suggest going for one?"

"I was testing you."

Kenny shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint."

As the pair of them stood around a neighboring alley, Kenny breathing the poisonous toxins into his body, they noticed yet another pair of foreigners walk by. The woman had a long, slender body. Her lean arms swung gracefully by her sides, her light blue sleeveless dress in sharp contrast with her light brown skin. Her long, toned legs moved quickly, like a model walking to some unheard beat down a runway. Long wavy hair flowed around her shoulders and face, on which she wore a pair of sport sunglasses.

Kenny stared in amazement. "She's beautiful, huh?" he asked, eyeing her as she walked by. The man walking with her had long strawberry blond hair, shorter than hers, yet long for a man. He wore a dark brown suede jacket with a red wife beater underneath. Baggy blue jeans almost completely covered the white runners on his feet.

"You better quit staring," Cranky pointed out, "he looks like he was ripped straight out of a men's fitness magazine."

The man was the first to catch the both of them whispering. "Aw, shit," Kenny cursed. "Now he's gonna tell us to stop staring."

"I'll take care of it," Cranky offered, standing protectively in front of his friend. Cranky was a force to reckon with himself, a big change from the skinny kid he remembered from nine years ago. He had bulked up quite a bit in those nine years, his shoulders, arms and chest adorned with defined slabs of muscle. His bright red hair was a reference to the fury deep within his body that would've otherwise gone unnoticed.

The stranger approached Cranky without any immediate aggression. He just strode over nonchalantly, his brows furrowed at the two longtime friends out of curiosity more than anything. Kenny twisted his neck, trying to get a good view of the man from behind Cranky's broad form. Cranky stood his ground and stared the man straight in the eye with his most ferocious glare. But the stranger seemed more amused and curious than frightened – with good reason too. If the two of them got into a fight, it would definitely be a good one. The stranger looked over Cranky's shoulder at Kenny, causing Cranky to sidestep, coming in between the two of them again.

"If you want him," Cranky said, tipping his head backwards towards Kenny, "you have to get through me first."

"Hold on a sec …" Kenny said, noticing something strangely familiar about the stranger. He then glanced at his wife, who was now approaching, removing the sunglasses from her face with a single graceful swipe of her arm across her face. She was beautiful alright, but there was something else about the woman that was very alluring to Kenny. It wasn't love, nor was it lust, but she seemed so …

The man suddenly spoke in perfectly accented Japanese, catching Kenny off guard. "Do you remember me?"

Kenny's first response was to tell the guy no. But then again, they were giving off a strange energy. There was definitely something familiar about them, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Why would we?" Cranky snapped quickly.

"Ah … Uncle Ken?" Kenny asked, much to his surprise. Kenny fake coughed into his hand, unsure of what he just said. The words just came out all of a sudden, without him even commanding it. He didn't even know if that was the man's name, let alone whether he was an uncle or not.

"So you do remember," the man said, smiling. "Uncle Ken." He nodded his head in approval. "It's been awhile since I've been called that."

"Who are you?" Kenny asked. "And your wife?"

"I'm Mr. Masters," came the reply.

Kenny stepped back in shock. Within a second, his heart rate dramatically increased, his hands became clammy, this throat suddenly felt like sandpaper. "Y…you're joking me."

Mr. Masters shook his head. "You probably wouldn't remember what I look like, but I know you know who I am."

"You're the guy responsible for funding my trip over to America," Kenny said, pointing a shaky finger.

"And just about every aspect of your financial life," he added proudly.

"Those two thousand dollars you deposit into my bank account every month …" Kenny continued. "That was … you?!"

Mr. Masters shrugged. "Who did you expect?"

"I don't know. I never thought about it before."

"Not very many people do this for a complete stranger," Mr. Masters said.

"Then why did you do it for me?" Kenny asked.

"Because …" the man paused. "You …" His beautiful wife approached him and put her hand on his shoulder. She ran her hand up and down his arm and whispered words of encouragement into his ear, pausing in mid sentence and gave Kenny a warm smile. "Nine years ago ..." Mr. Masters managed to spill out.

"What about that time?" Kenny continued his interrogation.

"It was a significant time for you."

Again, Kenny broke out in a wave a cold sweat, the second one within a minute. How did he know all this? Who did this … Mr. Masters think he was? "Yeah …"

"Tell me why."

"Because … I can't remember anything about my life before then."

"Meet me tonight at the Starbucks three blocks east from here. I'll tell you everything." Without even pausing to say goodbye, the Mr. Masters and his wife turned around and swiftly walked away. Kenny and Cranky stared after them, watching the pair disappear into the bustling crowd of people, never taking their eyes off the couple until they had completely vanished from sight.

"So," Cranky was the first to speak after they were clearly gone, "tell me how you know those people, again."

Kenny shrugged. "Mr. Masters is just a guy who set up a bank account for me and deposits two thousand American dollars into it every month for me to use. That's how I've been living my life for as long as I can remember."

"For the past nine years," Cranky added.

"Yeah."

Cranky's eyes suddenly widened. "So you really don't remember … anything beyond that?"

"No."

"Then how do you know who I am?"

"I …" all Kenny could do was stand there and stutter. Why hadn't he thought of this before? Who was this guy, acting like they'd been friends for a lifetime, and Kenny couldn't even remember how they'd met?

""Hayaku kaere!" Mr. Takayama's voice called angrily from the kitchen.

"Fuck him," Kenny said. "Listen, I gotta get back to work."

"Alright then," Cranky said, giving a thumbs up. "I'll catch you later. We have a lot to catch up on."


	3. Chapter 2: Recollection

Kenny sat at a small wooden table, with a diameter of about three feet. He scratched at the lacquered wood with the nail of his index finger, waiting patiently for the strangely familiar man he was supposed to meet. He sighed outwardly and rubbed his eyes. Greasy. Probably from all the dried up sweat from a hard day's work at that sweltering restaurant. From the moment he got back from his cigarette break with Cranky, Mr. Takayama didn't lay off of him, pointing out every mistake he'd made.

"You're not filling that customer's cup with more water!" the boss would complain in Japanese. "Why haven't these people been given menus yet? You're delivering the food way too slowly!"

Kenny rolled his eyes at the mere memory of his boss. If his service was so bad, how was it that he managed to make five thousand yen in tips that evening? He wondered why he constantly put up with Mr. Takayama's bitchiness. The guy didn't know how to run a restaurant. Having one waiter on the floor during lunch and dinner is beyond moronic. Any restaurant owner knew that.

But the answer came to Kenny quickly – he needed the job, he needed the money to support himself. Two thousand free dollars a month was good, but it wasn't nearly enough to pay for living expenses. Since returning to Japan, he'd been staying night after night at a local hostel that provided cheap nightly rates, though "cheap" was a word Kenny used loosely, this being Osaka and all.

He couldn't wait to return to the hostel later that night and get some good rest. Tomorrow's shift started at 8:00 am. Kenny glanced at his watch, one with a large face set in a black frame and matching strap around his left wrist. 9:37 pm. At this rate, he was going to get less than twelve hours of sleep, his preferred hours.

"How's it going?"

Kenny snapped his head up to get a look at the speaker, although he had a pretty good idea who it was. "Uncle Ken." He had his beautiful wife with him, and the pair of them drew seats from neighboring empty tables and sat down, husband and wife looking at each other nervously, wondering who should speak first, wondering what to say.

"You remember my wife?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kenny replied, "from this afternoon."

"That's not what I meant. She's your Aunt Eliza."

"Cool," Kenny replied with an unskillfully hidden sense of urgency in his voice. "We agreed to meet because I wanted an explanation on my past from you. So let's hear it."

"Nine years ago," Ken began to speak, realizing his wife would have no part in this, "there was an explosion near the base of Mount Fuji. The government, in an effort to protect the Japanese people, kept reports of the case under wraps."

"Do you know what happened there?"

"Have you ever heard of the crime syndicate "Shadowlaw?" Ken asked.

The name sounded all too familiar. Uncle Ken was connected to Kenny somehow, he could sense it just by his knowing of the evil organization. "Y … yes I do."

"And you know about your connections to them?"

"I have no connections to them," Kenny said, getting defensive.

"But your father …"

"Yeah, he was a Shadowlaw scientist. Not me."

"No," Ken disagreed, shaking his head, "you _are_ connected. You just don't know how."

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Kenny said, raising his voice. "I suppose the next thing you're going to tell me is that it's because of the Shadow Technology right?"

"You're not supposed to remember anything from beyond the past nine years …" Ken said, scratching his head in wonder.

"Yeah except I learned about it roughly three months ago in Raccoon City," Kenny continued, more calmly this time. He paused, closing his eyes, looking as if he was trying to make himself forget.

"What happened in Raccoon?" Ken asked, worried for his young friend.

"I was involved with a lot of bullshit," Kenny admitted, "with a company called the Umbrella Corporation."

"What did they want with you?"

"Let's just say they felt that they owned the Technology. Anyway, I thought you were supposed to be doing the explaining?"

"Right," Ken continued, "so your father was murdered by his employers after they found out he hid the Shadow chip in your body to prevent them from getting to it."

A silence fell upon the three of them for a few moments, nobody sure of what to say.

"I'm going to get a coffee," Eliza offered. "Do you boys want anything?"

"A grande decaf," Ken asked.

"Tall, soy, no-water, Tazo chai, please," Kenny followed.

As she walked away to make the order, Ken spoke up. "So then, it should be obvious by now that I've known you since before your memory wipe.

Kenny shrugged. "So that's what it was … a memory wipe. I thought I just fell and hit my head real hard. Nine years ago … so that means I would've been …"

"Six years old," Ken answered.

"How did it happen?"

"You suffered near fatal damage during the explosion at the Shadowlaw base at Mount Fuji. It pretty much resurrected you in an attempt to save itself from dying. Having reset itself, the technology was like a computer. You restart a computer, and all the unsaved information is lost. The technology works to enhance a person's physical abilities, not save memories. So when it was rebooted, your memories were wiped out."

"So now I'm a fucking computer, is that what you're telling me?"

"I'm not calling you any names. I'm just presenting the facts."

"I'm sorry," Kenny said apologetically. "I just don't … "

"It's a hard thing to accept, coming from a stranger like me. But I'm here to tell you, Kenny, that I am no stranger. I've been watching over you for the past nine years and even before then."

"But why? What kind of obligation do you have to me?"

"Ryu and I were the ones to who took you off the streets before your memory wipe. Even in those forgotten years, you were still being chased an evil company. Back then, it was Shadowlaw. And Interpol wanted to get their hands on you too, in order to prevent Shadowlaw from getting their hands on the technology."

"Wow … I'm a popular guy, huh?"

Ken smirked. "So it seems. Ryu and I were caught in the middle – and keep in mind that this was taking place during the Street Fighter Alpha tournaments, which was _hosted _by Shadowlaw."

"Wow, man, some serious shit really hit the fan. And out of everyone involved, I'm the only one who gets a memory wipe."

"It's better that you did. For a six year old, you had to grow up pretty damned fast and I didn't think that was fair. Had you gone through life with that screwed up childhood, who knows what you would've turned into?"

"Probably would've been better than working for a sadistic boss."

Ken let out a hearty laugh. Wiping a tear from his eye, he said, "It's good to see that after all you've been through, you still hold a sense of humor."

"It's all based on fact," Kenny said, shrugging. "So then, that's why you decided to fund my life? Just because you felt sorry for me?"

"Well … I guess I just …" Ken scratched the back of his head nervously. "You were just such a cute kid," he finally admitted. "I couldn't just let you back out on the streets, especially when you had no memory of anything. Besides, I had a lot of money to throw around."

"Two grand adds up after while," Kenny added.

Ken scoffed. "I make five times that amount bi-weekly. Money's not an issue."

"What the hell do you do to get that kind of dough?!"

"Um … I'm Ken Masters, martial arts action star?" he asked, pointing a thumb at himself, as if it should've been obvious.

"Holy shit!" Kenny gasped. "You're THE Ken Masters? I thought your name sounded a little familiar but I never put two and two together …"

"Well surely you must've seen my face on billboards and stuff, right?"

"Uh … heh … sorry, I was never much of a fan."

"Just as well. I market myself to the generation X female market only."

"You better not still be!" Eliza threatened, showing up behind Ken with a cardboard drink holder with three hot beverages nestled comfortable in it. Kenny stifled a snicker.

"Of course not, my dear!" Ken said, laughing nervously.

"I hope not," Eliza continued. "I'd hate to see this hot coffee all over that handsome face of yours. Such a waste of freshly brewed coffee."

"Well not that we're all together," Kenny suggested, "would you folks like to join me outside?"

"You know, smoking is really …"

"I know, I get it from Cranky enough, thanks."

"But how do you remember Cranky?"

"The same way I remembered you," Kenny replied. "He looked familiar and suddenly, my mind knew immediately who he was."

"You're probably right," Eliza said. Somehow, the sound of her voice soothed him. "Ken's told me everything about you. A lot happened before your memory wipe and one day – today – just isn't enough time to absorb it all."

"Alright, then! Shall we?" Kenny extended his arm, which Eliza took the liberty to loop her own arm around his elbow, and they strode out of the coffee joint with drinks in hand.

"Hold up!" Ken said, picking up his drink, still embedded in the tray.

**XXXXX**

From across the street, dark cloak wrapped around a hulking seven foot seven inch frame, a dark man watched the threesome exit from the Starbucks. They looked like a happy family – a beautiful woman with her handsome husband, and their mouthy teenage son … only their kid looked like a local kid. But the dark man knew better. He'd faced the two warriors in battle before, nine years ago in the Shadowlaw Fuji Base explosion. He was the one that helped rescue the teen all those years ago from certain death in the explosion.

"I don't want to do this," the man said to himself. "I don't want to live my life like this." There was no choice. As M. Bisons's second in command, he had to take orders directly from the Shadowlaw leader himself. And his instructions tonight were to keep an eye on potential SS-001 candidates. The translation being, anyone who could possibly carry the SS-001, the prototype version of the Shadow Technology unmodified and raw, straight from the deceased Dr. Feng himself. And this teenager was the perfect candidate.

The man withdrew a computer enhanced picture from the chest pocket of his cloak. It was a picture taken of SS-001 Kenneth Feng when he was six years old, using age enhancing technology to give him a more matured appearance. And that kid across the street looked quite a bit like the kid in the picture. And the confirmation he needed was the fact that he was with Ken Masters.

He then extracted a cell phone from the same pocket, dialed, and waited. "Master Bison, this is Sagat reporting."

"What news do you bring, Sagat?"

"I believe I've located the prototype SS-001," he replied. "He's with Ken Masters." Sagat bit his own lip nervously as he spoke. Shadowlaw's tactics were dishonorable, using hostages for money, terrorizing innocents, trafficking drugs, and other impure substances. Was getting revenge on Ryu worth sacrificing his morals by siding with such an organization? Was he lowering himself as a warrior and more importantly, as a human by fighting for Shadowlaw's cause? He was too afraid to think of the answers. So just like he'd done many times before, Sagat shut out his conscience and asked Bison, "what are your orders?"

"Take the prototype," Bison replied. "Kill Masters if you have to."

"Yes, sir."


	4. Chapter 3: Back Into the Fire

Cranky ran his coarse hands up and down the pale, slender woman's arms. She was beautiful with skin a little on the pale side, a tight tone body with curves in all the right places. The woman's beautiful blonde hair dropped gracefully around her face and shoulders, glowing in the light moonlight. She placed her delicate porcelain hands on his broad, tanned shoulders and pulled his face close to hers with surprising strength. Their lips met and the pair shared a deep, long kiss.

"I love you, Cranky," the girl said, large green eyes staring into his.

"You don't need to tell me that, Cammy," Cranky replied. "I know from the way you look at me."

"Then say it back to me," she pleaded.

"I …" Cranky tore himself from Cammy's embrace and faced away from her. "I do love you, but …" His conscience was bothering him again. The things he would do to get rid of his conscience all together ... "I can't continue doing this."

Cammy's face crinkled. It was at that moment, Cranky knew, that he'd broken her heart. Everything he did before, shunning her when they ran into each other down the street, only acknowledging her presence when they were alone, all of that only bruised her heart. But this time, he knew he'd shattered her.

Cammy didn't explode into a sobbing wreck like he'd expected. Instead, she turned around, turning her back on him and walked towards the motel room window and stared out at the moon that shone brightly in the sky. It wasa grungy motel with carpet that looked like it could use a good scrub. The room stunk of chemicals mixed with fecal matter. The bed sheets were coarse and itchy, and the mattress itself squeaked from years of use. But it wasn't because of the beds that they checked in. It was because of the privacy …

"I figured as much," she said, still facing out the window. "You know, I didn't want to admit it. But I guess I was too jaded. And I think …" the turned to look over her shoulder at him. "I think I still am."

"Look," Cranky explained, plopping himself down on one of the beds with a great squeak of protest from it, "I just think you deserve better than a jerk like me, that's all."

"But Cranky," Cammy protested, "I'm only in Japan for the Street Fighter II tournament. And after this is all over, it's back to Delta Red for me. I want my time away from them to mean something to me. That's why I'm with you."

"Yeah, but it's just that ..."

"I don't understand you," Cammy shouted in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air. "You just said a few seconds ago that you love me, and now you're trying to break us up. If I was interested in a relationship with another woman, I'd be a lesbian, Cranky! And here you're acting like a woman with relationship issues better than I ever could!! What's wrong, Cranky? You know how much I care about you. So if you're going to break my heart, then at least tell me why."

Just then, the door to the motel suite burst open, giving the arguing couple the scare of their lives. Standing in the doorway was the silhouette form of a petite girl, around Cammy's size. But that was where their appearances ended. Her bangs were separated into two different locks, each one dropping down one side of her face. She had high cheek bones, resulting in narrower eyes with dark brown irises. Her form fitting spaghetti strap top complimented the shape of her breasts and her torso. With slight contrast to her tight tops, the woman's jeans also fit tightly with her thighs, but flared out towards her ankles.

Cranky swallowed the dry lump in his throat. "Juli, this is Cammy. Cammy, Juli."

**XXXXX**

A large monster stalked out of the shadows. Kenny didn't get a chance to get a good look at the attacker, but he was well aware of the creature's strength. It had picked up Aunt Eliza with a single arm and thrown her against a brick wall, knocking her out instantly. She now lay slumped over on the pavement with a trail of blood running down the side of her face, in sharp contrast to her light, angelic features.

"Eliza!" Ken cried, running to his wife's aid. But that left Kenny open and vulnerable. The tall bald monster looked down at him menacingly. The first thing Kenny noticed was the sheer size of this man. He was well over seven feet tall and every inch of his body rippled with muscle. His thigh was of similar circumference to Kenny's waist. The man's arms were as thick as Kenny's head.

"Time to go home, boy," he sneered.

"Why are you doing this, Sagat?" Ken cried, looking up at him while he cradled Eliza in his arms. "You were the one who left Kenny with us! Why are you taking him back now?!"

Sagat frowned, and hung his head in shame. "Orders …"

"If you want me to go with you," Kenny said, sinking into a fighting stance, "then you're going to have to fight for it." He couldn't figure out why he was doing this. There was no way he was a match for this monster of a man, but Kenny's pride was more important. He wasn't going down without a fight.

Kenny jumped into the air and twisted his body, extending a leg as he did so. He swung his right leg into the side of the Sagat's head but was blocked with a single arm.

"Kenny, no!" Ken cried, but was paid no need. The teen continued his assault, throwing a flurry of punches just as he landed from the kick. Sagat swatted away his strikes as if they were mere flies. Kenny kicked his foot up into a set of three successive kicks, one aiming low, waist-level, and high respectively. But Sagat sidestepped all three. The man wasn't fighting back, but he wasn't letting Kenny hurt him either. The teen performs a spinning back kick, but was avoided like all his other attempts were. Fatigue was beginning to take over his body as he sunk down onto a knee.

"That's it … I'm quitting smoking," he said, gripping his chest.

"You have skill," Sagat complimented, "but you have the potential to be so much more than you are right now. Come with me."

"What makes you think I'm so willing?" Kenny shot back.

"Either way, you belong to Shadowlaw," Sagat replied, "so you will be coming with me whether you like it or not. I'm just giving diplomacy a chance."

"Give it up already," Kenny retorted. "My father betrayed you guys, I know that. And he's dead, so why can't you leave a dead man alone? Why do you have the need to terrorize his family?"

"This has nothing to do with morality. This has everything to do with reclaiming what is rightfully ours – the Shadow Technology that is hidden inside you in a single chip. That technology was developed by Dr. Feng while Shadowlaw was paying him to support you. So we own it."

"You don't own me."

"The technology has welded itself to you. Both of your forms are one. So technically speaking, we own you as well. Any attempt to remove it from your body would kill you, rendering it useless."

"Sagat, don't do this," Ken pleaded. "Nine years ago, you left him with us. Remember? You didn't feel it was right for a six year old kid to be corrupted by Shadowlaw …"

"I know why I did what I did," Sagat spat. "And I was doing it by my own free will at the time. This time, I'm under orders. I'm sorry, Ken."

"If you won't back down then, Sagat," Ken said, joining Kenny's side, "neither will I."

"Just like a true warrior would," Sagat nodded in approval, "I wonder if I will ever be able to reclaim that kind of honor." Sagat shot his fists forward, producing a projectile made completely of chi. Ken dodged the fireball, but it caught Kenny with its full impact on the chest. The lightweight teen was lifted off his feet and thrown meters backwards.

Countering Sagat's offensive, Ken positioned himself under the might warrior and shot his fist upwards, performing a deadly, yet graceful uppercut. He spun with such speed, drilling his body upwards and through Sagat's form, both men shooting up into the sky like a magnificent fireworks display. The flames produced by the sheer chi tapped by both warriors wrapped around Ken's body in the form of a mighty Chinese dragon, battering Sagat with additional hits.

As Sagat's body dropped earthward, he was somehow able to regain his balance, flipping himself so that he would've landed feet first. Ken was unaware of this fact and suffered the consequences seconds later as his opponent erupted into a Tiger Genocide, battering Ken with a set of two seven-hit uppercuts in succession. Ken's face and chest were remodeled in a time frame of two seconds as he ate the pavement.

Kenny leapt onto Sagat's shoulders from behind and began punching mercilessly at his head, hoping to distract him long enough for Ken to regain his composure. Sagat raised an arm, reached around behind his back and single-handedly picked Kenny off of him, tossing the teen aside like an action figure. But Sagat had made the mistake of turning his back against Ken, who was now back on his feet.

"Hadouken!" Ken cried, propelling the fireball from his palms. The projectile smashed into Sagat's lower back, but only distracted the man for a little. He knew Ken was trying to distract him from his goal, attaining the SS-001. And it lay right before him, in the form of young Kenneth Feng.

"Face me, you shameful warrior!" Ken demanded. But Sagat reached down and picked Kenny up, throwing him over his shoulder.

"I was ordered to kill you if I had to," Sagat said calmly, before walking away, vanishing into the night. "Don't make me utilize that authority."

**XXXXX**

Ryu inhaled deeply, taking in the crisp cool mountain air. He liked it like this, quiet, peaceful, and a magnificent view of an endless ocean of mountains spilling out into the horizon before him. He sat on a cliff edge with his knees pulled in close to his body. A fresh breeze of mountain air washed over his meditating form, fueling his body for the simple, yet disciplined task. He opened his eyes for a moment, taking note of the beautiful moonlight, casting a pale glow on everything around him.

He found it a little difficult to meditate tonight. Perhaps it was because of the beauty of the scene around him, or was it the fact that the Street Fighter II tournaments were happening as he sat there? Was it maybe that he'd made it all the way to the final rounds? Something at the back of his mind troubled him about the nature of the second street fighter tournament. This one was hosted by Shadowlaw, the second set of tournaments hosted by them, the first being the Alpha tournaments when Ryu and his fellow street fighters had the privilege of running into a six year old boy named Kenneth Feng.

Ryu remembered when he so ruthlessly punched a hole in the boy's chest. He remembered the rage that raced through his veins, the numbness of his own limbs – yet they somehow had a life of their own – punching and kicking at young Kenny who was completely defenseless. Well … not exactly. The child harbored the Shadow Technology, an ability enhancing agent that worked wonders on his body. Despite being at a size, strength and weight disadvantage, Kenny's Shadow enhanced form was able to put up a decent fight for Ryu, who was charged with the power of the Satsui no Hadou, at the time.

Rustling in the bushes behind Ryu caught his attention. Most people would've passed it off as some kind of animal, but Ryu knew better. He could sense the creature's aura, and it wasn't threatening. But Ryu got up to his feet and approached the source of the energy with caution just in case in was good at masking its aura from any aggressive intentions.

To his surprise, Ryu's longtime friend and rival, Ken Masters, stumbled out of the bushes. His face was bruised and bits of dried blood clung to his face, outlining where it had flowed freely shortly earlier.

"Ken," Ryu cried, "what happened to you?" The wind picked up, sending Ryu's dark brown hair and the tails of his bright red headband flapping in its currents.

"I … ran here as quickly as I could," Ken gasped, clutching his side. "Eliza and I were attacked. I called for an ambulance for her …"

"But what about yourself?" Ryu asked, the concern for his friend apparent in his voice. "Why did you not go with her?"

"I can't afford to do that," Ken replied. "Kenny needs our help."

"Kenny?!" That was a name Ryu hadn't heard in awhile. "You said you would leave the kid to live on his own, with only minimal help from you."

"I ran into him on the street earlier today," Ken said regretfully. "I know I promised not to interfere with him running his own life, but I couldn't hold it back any longer. I wanted him to know who I was, why I was helping him out financially, and his past. I don't know … I guess I just thought it was sad that I knew more about him that he knew about himself."

"You fool," Ryu said, shaking his head, turning his back on his friend. "You don't know what you've done."

"I understand what I've done," Ken corrected.

"Apparently not," Ryu snapped, facing Ken once again, this time with a completely different expression than when Ken first appeared. "Now I think I know why Kenny needs our help. You spoke to him and told him everything about his past, didn't you? And being the brash little rascal that he is, he went running of spouting all sorts of curses, about his Shadow Technology and Shadowlaw caught on."

"Well, not exactly," Ken countered.

"Yeah but that's how it is right now, right? Shadowlaw has him, don't they?"

"Yes," Ken answered sheepishly.

"How foolish of you, Ken!" Ryu cried. The man rarely lost his temper and when he did, one always knew whatever they did was wrong. "Given the kind of person Kenny is, you know how he would take the news. And even worse, you decide to reveal it to him during the Street Fighter II tournaments, being run by Shadowlaw! They've probably got men scouting Osaka city – and they would, because this is where their Shadow subject was from!"

"Yeah, I know, I was stupid, okay?!" Ken said. "Don't think I haven't scolded myself already. If Sagat hadn't seen Kenny with me, he would've never gotten the clue that he was THE Kenny."

"That's why you promised that you'd stay well away from Kenny for the safety of him, yourself, your family and your friends. And you've gone and broken it." Ryu sighed outwardly.

"Look, Ryu," Ken said, putting his hands up, "don't think that I'm going to defend what I've already done. But I want to help Kenny get out of this mess. Aren't you going to help me?"

"Of course I'm going to help you!" Ryu said. "That doesn't mean I won't be angry at your brashness."

"Alright then," Ken said, "I'm parked at the bottom of the plateau, where the trail ends. We've gotta get over to the main tournament headquarters in Downtown Osaka if we're going to find out where to find the Shadowlaw big wigs."

"Ryu cocked an eyebrow. "We?"

"Uh … yeah!" Ken replied.

"No, you're going to the hospital before we do anything. Chances are, Kenny's life isn't in danger, if Shadowlaw knows how to treat their assets."

"But …" Ken sighed. "I guess you're right."

"We'll start our hunt once you are out. Meanwhile, I have to alert Chun Li and Guile. I'm sure they'd be happy to know that they've got the Shadow Technology in their hands once again."

"I'm sorry, already!"


	5. Chapter 4: Satsui no Hadou

The rain splattered heavily on his extended arms, fists just a few inches from his own face. But the demon paid them no heed. The rain poured down in relentless torrents, as if trying to beat him down with the might of nature itself behind them. But he stood against their power, and other other form of energy that dared challenge that that flowed in his veins.

Satsui no Hadou ...

The old man, standing hunched over, spurting blood from his mouth was the same man that dared challenge that power. And now he was facing the consequences, but not as a direct result of the Satsui no Hadou.

"You are weak, Gen," Akuma muttered. "This isn't like you. You are ... dying."

"Such is the fate of one that wields the Satsui no Hadou," Gen replied. "I, too, am one of its carriers. I have accepted my fate. And I want to make what little life I have left count. And only one thing would bring me that kind of satisfaction."

"You will never defeat me," Akuma said. "You are a diseased ridden mortal. Had you embraced the power you inherited ..."

"It is because of the Satsui no Hadou that I am dying, you fool!"

Akuma scoffed. "You are obviously too withered to even contain such might. Perhaps your death might be a blessing to you ..."

Gen's body streaked forward with a blur of light, faster than any human could move, let alone a man of his age. Any normal person would've at least blinked at the sudden move, the flash of light. But with one as refined and skilled as Akuma, the strike was not unexpected and had been effectively blocked and countered instead.

The demon buried his fist into the chest of the fragile looking old man, knocking him into the ground almost effortlessly.

"You've had multiple chances to slay me in the past," Akuma said, as his opponent struggled to pick himself up from the ground. The demon stood proudly, his thick arms folded across a muscular chest. He made no effort to move, no effort to guard himself, though the martial arts master Gen struggled to get back in his feet, hatred seething from between his teeth.

"Even if you kill me today," Gen said, "you will eventually die at your own hands, if you continue to embrace the Satsui no Hadou."

"I would kill you," Akuma replied, "if you were of a real threat to me. But ..." A small grin spread across the demon's face. "I'd like to preserve your meaningless existence for a little longer. Toy around with you until the opportunity to face my true equal reveals itself ... M. Bison, wielder of the Psycho Power."

Gen's eyes widened at the audacity of Akuma's announcement. "M. Bison ... you're not thinking ..."

"A true warrior pursues nothing but his own victory against anything that dare challenges his might," Akuma replied. "And without a doubt, M. Bison is willing to test his Psycho Power against the Satsui no Hadou. He is flawed, relying on his own man-made energy to fight. Word has it that Shadowlaw is hosting the new Street Fighter II tournament taking place. He will know his place soon enough."

As Akuma's form vanished into the darkness of the rainy night, Gen whispered after him quietly. "As you will know yours."

**XXXXX**

Deep in the mountains of rural Thailand, within the rocky mounds that stood proud and tall against the horizon, a sharply contrasting structure of steel and cables were erected just a mere two years ago, and had since served as one of Shadowlaw's main bases of operations. The base consisted of narrow, twisting corridors with various rooms serving various purposes - experiment rooms, jail cells, quarters for soldiers, and most importantly, M. Bison's throne room.

And that was where Sagat was headed right now, with a young teenager in tow. Sagat walked tall, chin tipped up looking straight ahead as he swung his massive arms by the sides of a thickly built torso. Standing a full two feet shorter, and a whole lot skinnier with a more youthful, innocent looking face, Kenny walked with his head down, his arms in front of him, bound together at the wrists with plastic twine. It perfect, really, for keeping him tied. The plastic was strong, yet lightweight. He'd already given up struggling. Unnecessary movement only caused the sharp edges of the plastic to cut into his skin. The area around his wrists where they were kept bounded was already red from all the cutting and scratching.

"What are you going to do with me?" Kenny asked, although he already had a good idea in mind. This was the second time within a year he had been taken to the headquarters of some strange evil organization just because of the Shadow Tech's curse – the first time the Umbrella Corporation, an American Pharmaceutical company illegally dabbling with bio-organic weapons of mass destruction. How he wished to know what it was inside him that could contribute to that. Even more so, he wanted it out of his body and out of his life. Perhaps then he would be left alone.

"You will not be harmed," Sagat replied. "Bison has no interest in laying a finger on one of his most prized possessions."

"Fine then, what is he going to have me do?"

Sagat grinned broadly. "You'll find out soon enough."

Kenny was led to a darkened jail cell built right into the wall of the structure. Lining both the left and right walls in this dark annex of the building were cell doors, all of them made of thick steel, bolted shut with electronic locks. There was no way he was going to get out of his cell if they so much as thought of putting him in there. There were noises down the hallway. Either the jail cells were free of occupants, or they were just soundproof. The thought of soundproofing jail cells scared Kenny. What reasons would they need to do that? To muffle the screams coming from prisoners on the brink of insanity? Or was to muffle the cries of torture?

The door slammed shut behind him, cutting off all light from his vision. Kenny gulped in fear, realizing that it was completely pitch black in here. He held his hand inches from his face, yet could see no movement. There was no telling what was around him, nor how big the cell was. He stretched his arms out and fumbled his way in the dark, hoping to find some kind of structure to support himself on. And if there were none, he supposed to floor could do.

**XXXXX**

Interpol Agent Chun Li half-heartedly poured herself another half a cup of dark coffee. Nice and strong, that was how she liked the stuff - usually. But tonight, she'd had enough, but she was well aware that it was a necessity if she planned on making it through the night.

The pile of paperwork sitting on the desk in her cubicle in the Hong Kong Interpol Office would've struck fear into the heart of even the most experienced secretary. And it scared Chun Li too. But she took on the task diligently, taking it one sheet at a time. Most of the files were nothing of major importance, in Chun Li's book, anyway. She was used to dealing with Shadowlaw related material, but most of the scrap paper here were reports on petty thievery, vandalism, missing people … hold on a second.

It was a 2x4 inch photograph that caught her eye, neatly paper-clipped onto the sheet behind it, depicting a face on shot of a youth that looked vaguely familiar. He looked about fourteen to sixteen years old, short black hair, narrow eyes and a skinny neck. The expression on the teen's face was tired, his eyes looking at lens of the camera half closed. Chun Li read the name on the sheet – Kenneth Feng … That was a name she hadn't heard in awhile. She scanned Interpol's information on him – first went missing at the age of six years old, located by the street fighters during the Alpha tournaments, kidnapped by Shadowlaw … But Chun Li needed no reminder. She was there when it happened. She was one of the Street Fighters, working alongside warriors with the likes of Ryu, Guile, Ken, and her comrade Charlie, to rescue Kenny from Shadowlaw's clutches, at the same time ending the evil organization's reign of terror. Though Shadowlaw was brought down, the mission was considered a partial success. Kenneth Feng was killed during the infiltration stage. Yet, why was his profile sitting on her desk? More importantly, the child who died that day was a mere six years old – this one was a blooming teenager. And they both had the same name, same ethnic background … was this some kind of sick coincidence?

The incessant ringing of the telephone tore Chun Li's attention away from her work. The black phone was placed at the far left corner of her desk and she groaned having to reach the table's length just to get it.

"Agent Chun Li speaking," she greeted gruffly. She was surprised at her own masculinity sometimes, so she cleared her throat. "Oh Guile, you couldn't have called at a better time."

From the other end, "Is something wrong, Chun?" the American military pilot, and long time friend asked.

"Not with me, no," she replied, "but I sense some foul play here."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember nine years ago, we helped to take out Shadowlaw, right?"

"Yeah, but there are rumors about the organization resurfacing."

"Do you remember little Kenny?"

Guile's tone changed a little. He spoke both fondly and regretfully at the same time. "Yeah, I remember him. Poor kid."

"I've got a missing person profile in my hands," Chun Li explained, "and this guy has the same name."

"Kenneth Feng?"

"Yeah. And what's more, it says here that he's fifteen years old. That's how old little Kenny would be had he survived the explosion at the base."

"There's always a possibility that there's more than one."

"There is," Chun Li conceded, "but I'd like to look into this matter a little further."

"You'd be wasting your time," Guile said, trying to deter her. "We all know he's dead. What does it matter?"

"Because I _don't_ know that he's dead," she retorted. "I never actually saw him die."

"_We _did," Guile shot back, "and that's what you have to go by."

"Just before you came running out of the base, Sakura and I ran into Sagat. And he had Kenny on his shoulder. The boy looked healthy and he even spoke to us. That was the last account of someone seeing him. He's not dead."

"I'm not going to bother arguing with you about this, Chun," Guile said weakly. "I thought I had a thick skull. If the fact that I saw him die won't even be taken into consideration, then I give up."

"But this profile here," Chun Li said, gripping it tightly in her hands, "this is what's going to prove me right."

"So what if you're right? Assuming Kenny could still be alive, what good will it do for us? Prove the flaw in our abilities to keep track of people?"

"If the Street Fighter tournament is really being hosted by Shadowlaw as the rumors state, then that would mean they are back in business. And if they really are back in business, it will only be a matter of time before they decide to reclaim what's rightfully theirs – the Shadow Technology inside Kenny's body."

"What makes you think they'd be so interested in getting it back?" Guile drilled. "The scientist responsible for the creation of that technology betrayed them and went and hid it in his son, Kenny. Why would they want to taint their reputation by reclaiming something created by a scientist that betrayed them?"

"Shadowlaw is a criminal organization," Chun Li reminded, "not some kind of society bound by samurai loyalty. They could care less who developed it. The fact is the technology is powerful stuff. Don't forget, Guile, and both Charlie and I experienced its abilities. And between us, I was the only one who lived to tell about it. Knowing Shadowlaw, there's not a doubt in my mind that they would want to take it back."

"And what if this Kenneth Feng here happens to be a complete coincidence?"

"Then at least I can say made sure that our Kenny is dead. I don't want to leave that to fate, Guile. I want to make sure for myself! And with Bison out there … that's a risk I'm not willing to take. Help me track him, Guile. Please."


	6. Interlude: Before the Tournament

"Bless me father for I have sinned. My last confession was ... well ..."

"Go on, my son," a deep voice called from behind the elaborate window. The shutter was pulled down, obscuring Cranky from the priest's no doubt threatening glare. Cranky was a sinner, and he knew it, cheating on the only woman that managed to capture his heart.

"It's been awhile," Cranky replied.

"Do you have any wrong doings to share with me today?" the priest asked gently.

"I'm a womanizer, Father," he explained. "And I never had a problem with it. Not until recently."

"You've just realized the nature of such a sin?" the priest asked.

"It's not that, Father Marquez. I always knew adultery was considered a sin to the church but yet ... I never cared. But I've stumbled upon a very special woman without even realizing it - until it was too late. I think ... I think I've lost her."

"Our Lord is a compassionate one. No doubt you will be forgiven. But as humans, it is far beyond our capability of forgiving something so serious."

"You don't think she'll forgive me?"

"If she opens her heart to yours, she will forgive you. Women may appear to be confusing to men at times, but the truth is, they are merely mortal, just as we are. We all make mistakes, and it's that simple truth that will allow her to forgive you."

"Yeah but Cammy is ..." Cranky bit his lip. Didn't confession have some degree of anonymity? It probably wouldn't be the priests fault in this case - Cranky was the one who spilled her name.

"Hold on, did you say Cammy?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you mind if I were to lift the screen?"

Cranky wanted to say no, but he wasn't given the chance as the screen to the window suddenly came flying upwards. The priest's face peered through the window and Cranky saw him for the first time. He was younger than Cranky thought - a Latino man with an olive complexion, green eyes and short, thick dark hair cut close to his scalp. If he didn't know any better, Father Marquez could've been a  
mob man - the role seemed to suit his hard face, the few wrinkles present looking like dark cracks in cement.

"You cheated on Cammy?!" Father Marquez asked, seemingly appalled.

"Uh ... yeah," Cranky said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Dude, you are SO dead," he replied, with a fearful smile, his previous fatherly aura diminishing with that simple phrase.

"H ... how do you know her?" Cranky asked, pointing a shaky finger at him.

"I was best friends with an ex-lover of hers," Father Marquez explained. "He went by the name of Ken Masters. And, man, they went through some really tough times. I've seen Cammy's bad side and I'm  
thankful I never got that involved with her."

"Ken Masters is the name of the man looking after a good friend of mine." Talk about a coincidence. This was Cranky's first time at confession at some random church he picked off the street and the priest who worked there had ties to his social network.

"This friend of yours," Father Marquez asked, his eyes looking upward in a brief moment of thought, "is he a younger fellow? I'd say around his mid teens?"

"Yeah ..."

"Well if I'd known you were a good friend of Kenny's ..."

"The kid's a smartass," Cranky said. "God only knows he needs someone like Ken to look out for him."

"Careful," Father Marquez warned half-jokingly, "you're in the house of God."

"Of course, I'm sorry, Father."

And suddenly, the air in the confession booth got very cold without warning. Cranky had a hard time telling whether it was really the air, or just his body reacting to something ... sinister. Apparently  
he wasn't the only one who felt it as a worried look crossed Father Marquez's face.

"Do you feel that?" the priest asked.

"Yes," Cranky said. "Somebody's in here, in the church." The both of them simultaneously got up onto their feet and exited the confession booth, coming into full view of each other for the first time. Cranky clenched his fists tightly, sharp eyes darting back and forth around the church to get a good look at the intruder.

Father Marquez, on the other hand, gripped a rosary in his left hand, rubbing its beads with his index finger and thumb, his mouth moving quickly but silently like he was uttering a soft prayer.

"Does it usually feel like this when a sinner walks through the doors?" Cranky asked as the chills continued to run the course of his spine.

"This is far more serious than a mere sinner," Father Marquez replied. "The chi is ..."

"Catholic's don't believe in chi," Cranky suddenly found himself spitting out. He hadn't gone to church since he was a young boy, and had stopped practicing his inherited religion even before that, and  
yet he still knew.

"I believe my senses," Father Marquez shot back, "and no doubt you feel it to. How can one not believe what his body tells him?"

"Father," Cranky said, pointing to the large cross hanging at the very back wall of the church. The figure of Jesus was unchanged, with the same sorrowful expression on his long face, with minor added detail - streaks of blood were streaming from the figure's eyes, dripping down his body, gathering at a small pool on the altar.

"I've always known that crying statues of Jesus and Mary were to exist, but I've never known one of the statues in this very church to be one of them."

"I don't think this is typical of the church's statue," Cranky said. "Given this chi we're sensing ... could it be powerful enough to force the statue to weep blood?"

Candles stood lit in their respective shelves on either side of the altar. Each golden dot of light flickered together in synchronism, as if some unseen and unfelt breeze was blowing at them. A dark mist seemed to envelop the fine white tile that made up the parish floor. Cranky looked down at his feet and noticed the mysterious mist infiltrate the church, as if consuming it in its evil energy.

"Father Julian Marquez," a sinister voice called from the main entrance of the church. Cranky and Father Marquez looked towards the source of the voice but the now open doors revealed nothing but the darkness of night.

"Stand back, Father," Cranky said, positioning himself in front of the nervous priest, hoping to shield him from the intruder. "I'll take care of whoever it is."

The figure revealed itself through the darkness of the church entranceway, and Cranky felt a chill run up his spine as he laid his eyes upon the demon. It was powerfully built from head to toe, muscle bulging from every limb. Its skin was thick like leather and just as dark. The hair standing straight on his head in red, fiery waves was the same shade of red that his eyes glowed. It wore a karate gi ripped at the sleeves. Around its waist, where a belt would normally be, a thick rope was tied around its waist. But what caught Cranky's eye the most was the strange set of beads present around the demon's neck. They looked Buddhist in nature yet this demon was anything but good.

"I need some information, Father," the demon demanded, moving steadily toward the two men, a red aura emanating from his form. He completely ignored Cranky but he would not accept being ignored. Just before the demon could reach Father Marquez, Cranky stepped in between the two of them and shot him a threatening glare.

"I don't care who you think you are," he said, "but if you wanna get to the priest, you're gonna have to go through me."

"Please, Cranky," Father Marquez said, "this is unnecessary. If all he needs is information, then I am glad to give it as long as no harm comes to anyone."

"Where is your friend, Ken Masters?" the demon asked.

Father Marquez's shocked expression revealed that he wasn't anticipating such a question. But the nature of that question itself was enough to tell him who this demon was.

"Akuma?" Father Marquez asked. Ken had told him many times before about the strange demon that killed his master. Ken made him out to be more of an enigmatic being, living life in the shadows, but here he was standing right in front of him!

The demon smiled.

"I see you've heard about me."

"Why do you seek him?" Father Marquez asked.

"Word's been going around that he's been looking for a confrontation with me. In fact, I hear both of Gouken's students do – only that Ryu is self-aware enough that he's preparing for our fight. Ken on the other hand …"

"I don't know where Ken is," Julian snapped. He was telling the truth, but he may as well have been lying. Even if he did know where Ken was, there was no way he was going to let Akuma know, though Ken might actually want him to tell Akuma.

"I'm going to ask you one more time," Akuma said, taking a step closer, but his face unexpectedly smashed into Cranky's foot, that had embedded itself into his face as Cranky had turned and performed a back kick.

The blow caught Akuma by surprise as he staggered back, clutching his face in pain, little droplets of blood seeping through the cracks between his fingers. "Don't you take one step closer!" Cranky threatened.

"Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?" Akuma asked.

"Not much, if I can make you bleed so easily," Cranky replied, shooting a cocky smile.

"I'll show you what bleeding is like." The demon warped forward impossibly fast, shadows trailing behind his form. His body moved across the space that separated him and Cranky without even moving its feet. It was so … ghostlike. He didn't have enough time to snap out of his stupor when his cheek met with a vicious back fist and knocked him into the air.

Even as Cranky landed, Akuma was had already moved into his next attack, somersaulting high into the air and performing a flip at the peak of his jump, coming down hard onto Cranky's fallen form with one extended leg.

Cranky saw the incoming attack in time and rolled off to the side, letting Akuma's foot strike and crack the tile where his head was just a second before. Cranky kicked his body up into a standing position and before Akuma could recover from his strike, launched a triple kick – one aimed low, waist level, and high. Each kick found its target successfully but Akuma was hardly affected. On the third kick, he'd seized Cranky's ankle with one hand, grabbed his inner thigh with the other, and threw the young Irishman over his head and back onto the ground in front of him.

It had been a quick fight, over before it had barely begun. Father Marquez looked at Cranky, lying in a broken lump on the floor with a pool of blood now forming around his body. He then shot a glance at the demon Akuma who was now approaching.

"Now where were we?" he asked, with a large fanged grin spreading across his dark face.

**XXXXX**

"So Shadowlaw has him," Chun Li said, raising the small, white porcelain teacup to her lips and taking a sip of the fragrant Chinese tea.

"They're really back this time," Guile said, slapping a hand to his face.

"I'm sure of it," Ken continued, "who else would be so interested in Kenny?"

"Gee, I don't know," Chun Li said, her tone heavy with sarcasm, "given the kind of technology he's embedded with, everybody?"

"We shouldn't have re-exposed him to his past," Ryu said regretfully, looking down at his food. Ken had made a phone call over to Chun Li yesterday regarding Kenny's kidnapping, who flew down to Osaka the following day – coincidentally meeting up with Guile who'd already been on his way for the street fighter tournaments. In front of Ryu sat a bowl of steaming hot rice. The smell was appetizing but he couldn't bring himself to eat it, his mind full of guilt and regret. Kenny wasn't supposed to be back in this Shadowlaw bullshit. He'd sworn that much to himself nine years ago. Yet … it was happening all over again.

"Well we can forget about the past," Guile said slamming a pair of chopstick on the dark, redwood table, his frustration aimed more at the fact that he couldn't hold the chopsticks properly. "What's important is that we make sure Kenny is safe, and we take down Shadowlaw … again." Chun Li, picking up the same pair of chopsticks that Guile had thrown down, took a piece of deep fried Vietnamese egg roll and placed it on his plate for him.

"This is exactly what happened nine years ago," Ken noted, staring blindly off into space. "I wonder if Bison's got plans to start another Shadow Soldier army.

His words had more of an effect on Chun Li that he'd expected. She shuddered, remembering that for a short period of time, however brief, she actually served under Shadowlaw, in direct contrast to the life goal she'd set out of herself.

That was the nature of the Shadow Technology. Once embedded into a person's body, it took over, customizing the body, adjusting the organic abilities to its needs. Physical attributes such as strength, sight, agility and speed were increased. But the ability to think of oneself was filtered out. She was nothing more than a drone of a specialized Shadow army, working for Shadowlaw at the command of their dictator, M. Bison. Fortunately for Chun Li, she hadn't been under its power long enough for her to carry the technology permanently.

But Kenny … he was the original Shadow Soldier, having the chip implanted in his body when he was merely a child. Lucky for him, because the technology inside of him was independent of Shadowlaw, it didn't surface as much. But now that Shadowlaw had him, chances were they would keep it on all the time – and the really Kenny would just … vanish. Guile put a hand on her shoulder.

"If it does," he said, speaking to everyone though he directed his gaze at Chun Li, "we've got to watch out for each other during the upcoming street fighter tournaments. Ken and Ryu nodded in agreement. "I'll notify Cammy and Delta Red about the recent events. They should be on the lookout should Shadowlaw in fact be planning to use the technology they'll acquire from Kenny."

"We're going to need all the help we can get," Chun Li added. "It scares me to think of what they'd be capable of doing this time. It's been years since we've heard of Shadowlaw and suddenly they're back with a vengeance. What have they been doing all this time?"

"Isn't it your job to make sure organizations like these don't spring up?" Ken asked smartly.

"That's quite enough, junior," Guile said, jumping to Chun Li's defense. "You should be grateful that we haven't reported you to the authorities, keeping Kenny illegally in your custody when you knew he was of great interest to us."

"You thought he was dead."

"For choosing to keep the truth from us-"

"So you finally believe he's alive!" Chun Li jumped into the verbal brawl. A moment of silence ensued.

"I think it's safe to say he's alive," Ryu said. "The question is, where do we go from here?"

"Simple," Guile replied. "We wait for the tournament to start, and take our search from there. And while we take them down, I'll get to avenge Charlie's death."

"And I my father's," Chun Li added.

"Let's just not lose track of the fact that we have a mission here," Ryu advised. And all four of them nodded in agreement.

**Author's Note:** Father Julian Marquez is a character borrowed from a friend, and fellow author, Vammy. Thanks for letting me use him, Vammy. He will contribute well to this story.


	7. Chapter 5: Tension Central

**Bushin**** Guy:** Thanks! I guess the reason you think my dialogue is good is because I always seem to avoid action scenes! So what else is there left to do but dialogue? I'm a drama kinda guy, but sometimes, too much drama needs to escalate into action – which is what'll be coming up soon in this story. There hasn't been enough action thus far.

**Tao Shui: **I totally forgot how much I missed your inter-review skits. Good to know you're still reading.

**Vammy: **That idea of making Julian a pretend priest was a good idea. I'll stick with it. But you gotta start establishing that he was a pretend priest before I can further elaborate on it.

**XXXXX**

Kenny sat in the darkness with his hands wrapped around his body to provide some kind of warmth. There was barely any light in his cell. What little of it that he could see came from the little gap between the bottom of the door and the ground.

"You'd think being a multi-million dollar crime organization," he thought to himself, "they'd be able to afford better doors. Or maybe they don't want their prisoners losing all form of sanity imprisoned in the dark. At least they not that barbaric."

He'd lost track of how long he'd spent in his cell. The giant, bald Muay Thai warrior that had taken him, Sagat, had locked him in here what seemed like an eternity ago. Since then, Kenny had fallen asleep and woken up about ten minutes ago. "I'm gonna be late for work," he suddenly remembered for a moment and then said, "meh, Mr. Takayama can go screw himself for all I care."

The concrete that he sat on was cold and dusty, but it could've been worse. It could have been wet. There wasn't even a proper bunk in here to sleep in. As far as he could tell, it was just an empty room made purely of cement, about six by ten meters.

The clicking of the lock interrupted his thoughts. Kenny looked to the door that suddenly swung open violently, two shapes standing before him, their features completely shrouded by the darkness. Only their silhouettes could be seen against the illuminated hallway outside. He recognized the tall form as Sagat, the same man that had taken him from Ken Masters and dumped him in here. The second form was shorter, but equally broad with a beret style hat on his head and a large cape that was wrapped around his shoulders.

Sagat spoke. "Kenny, I'd like you to meet your new employer, M.Bison," he said, his booming voice echoing against the walls. Kenny squinted in the dark, trying to make out the form of the other man. They were being awfully diplomatic for a crime organization. Was Shadowlaw always this nice to their prisoners? He stood up and wiped his hands off his jeans, extending one of them to the boss.

"Nice to meet you." Bison gave Kenny's extended hand with a scornful look and forced a smile onto his face and the pair shared a handshake.

"I'm happy that you're back with us."

"I might be a little more bitter if I could remember what I did for you in the first place. And I was brought here against my will so … better to make the best out of a bad situation, I say."

"You will never be happier that you've followed that pattern of thought than today. I can assure you that your stay with Shadowlaw will be rewarding. This is your home."

"I have terms."

"You have no choice," Bison challenged.

"Last time I checked," he shot back, "I was the one who has what you want, not the other way around."

"And should the technology's assets not make up for your liability, you can be sure that I will dispose of you without a moment's hesitation. Remember, child, one the technology is removed from your body, you die."

To add emphasis on his last two words, Bison glared threateningly into Kenny's eyes. And for the first time in his life, Kenny was silenced. He had nothing more to say, no smartass comments, not even a look that he could give. He knew his place. He had to stand there and take whatever Bison threw at him if he wanted to live. After all, Kenny was a prisoner. Being on their grounds, they could do whatever they wanted with him and the authorities would never find out.

**XXXXX**

So the plan was set then. Tomorrow morning, Ken was going to be contacted by either Guile or Chun Li regarding what they can dig up about any nearby Shadowlaw establishments, and the upcoming street fighter tournaments. Ken had nearly forgotten about the tournaments after Sagat had taken Kenny. It had never occurred to him that he could get to Shadowlaw via the tournaments – after all, they were the hosts! He mentally kicked himself for not seeing the obvious as he drove down the stretch of road in downtown Osaka city, the chilly night air in his face, sitting strapped into the leather seats of a red Porsche convertible.

Ryu sat in the passenger seat looking as grim as ever, the tails of his headband whipping in the wind behind his head. It had been twenty minutes since they parted with Chun Li and Guile, after having dinner with them in Chinatown. But Ken had been too bothered with guilt to eat very much. Ryu was right about him. He should've just left Kenny alone. After all, that's what they decided to do in the first place. But it had felt right to let Kenny know about his past. Ken felt the kid deserved that much but … he'd played this scenario over in his head a thousand times now. And Ken could sense that Ryu was still a little ticked off with him for dragging everyone into this. But Ryu was not a man to live in drama so he didn't pursue the matter.

The ringing of Ken's cell phone interrupted his thoughts. He fished it out of his pockets with one hand, keeping the other on the wheel.

"Masters here," he said.

"K…Ken …" came a raspy voice from the other end, so weak it was almost inaudible. "Hello!" Ken called. "Who is this?"

"It's … Julian."

"Holy shit! I haven't talked to you in …. What's wrong?"

"Watch out – trouble." The man's voice on the other end was weakening, sounding as if he was going to die.

"Are you alright, Julian?"

"Forget about me. Akuma's coming for Ryu." The words sent a chill up Ken's spine. The demon chose the perfect time to make his return. Years ago, he escaped from the Shadowlaw base, weak and defenseless just prior to its explosion. Akuma's return was always a thought that Ken kept at the back of his mind, but he'd eventually forgotten about it. He glanced at Ryu who sat looking stern as ever, his eyes gazing off into the distance. Enjoying the scenery, perhaps?

"What happened?"

"He came to the church looking for you. I said something about the street fighter tournaments … I didn't mean to, Ken. I'm sorry …"

"Let him come and get us," Ken replied. "But if he did anything to you …"

"No," Julian said, "just watch your back." And the phone died. Ryu looked over with mild interest in Ken's direction.

"A friend of yours?" he asked.

"I'm sure you remember Julian."

"I've heard of the man once or twice. He was a comrade of yours, wasn't he? When you joined Shadowlaw all those years ago to rescue a lover within their ranks?"

"Yeah, that was him," Ken replied. "Julian Marquez. But he's got some important news for you."

"Oh?"

"Akuma's back." Ryu took a second to absorb the information. He opened his mouth to say something and closed it again, choosing not to say anything at all. He continued gazing off into the distance, letting the previous uncomfortable silence settle between the two. "We have to do something about this," Ken insisted.

"And when do we have the time to do this?" Ryu asked. "Between the Street Fighter tournaments, hunting down Shadowlaw and finding Kenny, where do we have time to deal with Akuma?"

"This is like a re-run of what happened nine years ago."

"No," Ryu said flatly. "It won't be. I succumbed to the Satsui no Hadou back then. I was weaker, blind with confidence, and stupid. I won't allow that to happen this time."

**XXXXX**

Guile was pacing back and forth impatiently in his motel room, seething with rage, trying to find some constructive way of taking out his anger. Chun Li sat on one of the beds with a cup of coffee in her hands, sipping it carefully. Guile had his own cup too, but it was sitting on the night stand being completely ignored.

"If you don't calm down right now, we're never gonna develop a plan," Chun Li said. "Just have a seat, calm down a little."

"I don't get it!" Guile bellowed. "Shadowlaw hosts a tournament, so it's obvious they're back in business. And Interpol only recently found out about their new base of operations in Thailand! And what's even worse, they JUST told me five seconds ago on the phone! How can they be so unprofessional!"

"Now hold on a minute," Chun Li said, putting up a hand to cut Guile off. "Let's not forget that the issue with Shadowlaw involves more than just you and me. Interpol must have already contacted their American counterparts about the issue. And being an Air Force pilot, Guile, I doubt you're in very high priority on their list of notification."

"We were sent here to find Kenny, Chun!" Guile said.

"We chose to find Kenny ourselves!" she reminded him. "There was no go-ahead by any of our superiors. This was something we both chose to undertake. As far as our employers are concerned, Kenny's just another child on the missing person's list. They're not obligated to tell us anything, at least not while we're on this mission."

"So what do you suggest!" Guile continued shouting. "We're out of the loop now with things involving Shadowlaw because you decided to go on a mad goose chase for a kid that died nine years ago!"

"First of all," Chun Li said, slamming her cup of coffee down on the nightstand right beside Guile's, "I have reason to believe Kenny's alive because me and Sakura were the last ones to see him alive – AFTER you claimed he died. Secondly, when I find a lead to him, I will follow it. Finally, who are you to accuse me of chasing ghosts after your little endeavors searching for Charlie after you KNEW he died too!"

"Charlie was my best friend!"

"Now **THAT** was a dead man if I ever saw one!" Chun Li could be such a cold-hearted bitch sometimes. But that was just the way she worked, given the circumstances of her life and he knew that. His first instinct was to reach out and deck the woman for being so insensitive, but he stopped himself because he didn't hit women for one, and also because she could probably hand his ass to him on a platter.

"Look Guile, we're not solving anything bickering like this. Let's just forget about getting at each other's throats and focus on the situation at hand. We go the tournament registrations starting tomorrow and the preliminaries in one week. That is one route we could take to Shadowlaw because they're hosting the tournaments."

"We also know about this new base in Thailand and we could always drop what we're doing, go home, and join the fight against them." Chun Li and Guile looked at each other, deciding without words what their choice should be – the obvious one. Both of them had personal vendettas against the crime syndicate and the opportunity to exact revenge with their bare hands in a martial arts tournament where they weren't bound by the rules that they otherwise would be in the line of duty … this was an opportunity too good to pass up.


	8. Chapter 6: The Agent Initiative

The phone call had been made as promptly as Ken would expect from an official like Guile. He and Chun Li had decided the plan of action. They were going to register for the Street Fighter II tournaments. Ken was hoping for it. It had been awhile since he'd gotten to test his martial arts skills against anyone worth taking a punch from him. Ryu was Ken's traditional training partner but it had been years ago when they'd last met, and Ken was worried that his skills were getting stale.

"You're sounding quite excited about this," Guile noted passively on the phone.

"Ha! Get ready for some ass kicking, old man!" Ken laughed contentedly into his cell phone. "Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just cause you've got a family!"

"Don't get your hopes up too high, junior," Guile replied. "The air force doesn't go lightly on its cadets."

"Whatever!"

"Okay look, you realize that this is the fun part right? We've got to infiltrate the Shadowlaw base, find out what they're up to and put a stop to it."

"Yeah," Ken said, his voice lowering in tone, "and hopefully we'll find Kenny and get him out of there too. Are you sure four people are enough for this task? I mean, Shadowlaw's a pretty established organization."

"They won't suspect us," Guile assured. "As far as they know, we're just a bunch of testosterone pumped street fighters eager to prove ourselves in the arena."

"If they were that presumptuous, I doubt they would've gotten as far as they have."

"Okay look, I don't have much time to talk. The long distance bill I must be racking up on this thing is growing exponentially by the second. I'll meet you at the registration gates in thirty minutes."

Ken glanced at his watch. It was 11:30 am and registration didn't start for another hour and a half. "Looks like we got a keener on our hands, huh, Guile?"

"We can't afford to miss registration, Ken. If we're denied entrance into the tournaments, our whole plan is screwed. Now listen to me and get there as fast as you can!"

"Alright, alright, I'm on it!" Ken snapped his phone shut and pocketed the miniature machine, leaning his body against the metal railing of the suite balcony, taking in the beautiful morning view of Osaka city. The streets were clogged with vehicles and had been this way since dawn. Across the street, magnificent skyscrapers shot straight up into the sky – a whole forest of them – and stretched all the way to the horizon.

Ken sighed to himself as the breeze whipped his long blond hair around his face. He hoped Eliza didn't mind him participating this year. She'd always had a problem with his fighting for as long as the two had been romantically involved. She liked to express her concerns for Ken's safety but he would always try and avoid the topic with her. It always ended up messy. He turned around and looked at her delicate form, lying on her side on the sofa bed sleeping peacefully – and then heard a soft snore escape from her lips. Ken found himself stifling a laugh.

He heard a noise from inside the hotel suite, the sound of a door closing gently. Out from a short corridor walked Ryu, the reigning street fighter champion. Dressed in only long white pants, he rubbed his wet hair with a towel as he walked into the main room.

"You didn't have to give me the bed," Ryu said. "I'm sure you and Eliza needed it more than I did."

"Ryu, you've been sleeping on dirt and floors and dirt floors for most of your life. I figured you could use a change once in awhile. Besides, Eliza gladly took the sofa bed. She thinks it'll toughen her up."

Ryu smirked.

"Anyway," Ken said, taking the cell phone out from his pocket again, "I just got the call from Guile."

"And?"

"We're going in, man.

"We're participating in the street fighter tournaments?"

"Yes!"

"Why do you sound so surprised? That's why we came here in the first place, isn't it?"

"Easy for you to say. You're the long time Street Fighter champ. Not showing up this year unannounced would ruin the whole event! Besides, I thought Kenny's kidnapping would've detracted from my participation."

"His kidnapping places more importance on our participation in the tournament. When are we meeting Guile and Chun Li?"

"We've got thirty minutes. And the guy told us to leave now."

**XXXXX**

Cranky's vision slowly came into focus and the first thing he saw was the blurry image of a dark haired man standing above him. As his vision returned, he could see the features of a kind looking priest staring right back at him.

"F…Father Marquez? What happened?"

"The demon owned you, buddy," Julian replied. "You're lucky he decided to spare you. It seemed like he had more important things to worry about."

"Like what?" Cranky moved to get up, but the splitting pain coming from behind his eyes, wrapping around his entire head halted his efforts. He put a hand to his temple and groaned, feeling a piece of cloth tied tightly around his skull.

"Try not to move," Julian advised.

"I said, what else did that demon have to worry about besides me?" Cranky repeated.

Julian broke eye contact with Cranky as he looked regretfully at the ground. "A friend of mine is in danger."

"You mean Ken Masters?" Cranky spat bitterly. He'd never been fond of Masters, though the closest of Cranky's friends were. Cammy White of Delta Red, now his ex-girlfriend had once adored the man during her childhood, and was hurt by him as a result. Even after Cranky had stolen her heart, it was clear to him that there were some things Masters could give Cammy that he could not. Cranky's best friend and adopted brother, little Kenny, looked to him as a father. How could Kenny have such a high opinion? Just because Masters financed his life? Money can't buy everything … and Cranky was surprised to catch himself thinking that. Money was supposed to buy everything. That's what his life on the street had taught him. Though he tried to deny it to himself, perhaps his involvement with Cammy had changed his perceptions after all.

"Why is Ken in danger?"

"Not him, specifically," Julian replied. "But the demon was looking for Ryu, a close friend of his."

"The street fighter champion? How the hell would they be connected?"

"It's a long story, but it's also nothing to worry yourself over. I would've taken you to a hospital to get your head checked out, but somehow, I got the feeling I should wait until day broke."

From the looks of things, the sun was already shining, its warm rays passing through the stained glass windows of Julian's church, forming beautifully coloured images on the stone floor. Incense laced the air, not too strong, but enough to establish the atmosphere. Using his arms to support him, Cranky raised himself from the church pew, but not before Julian rushed to his side.

"Try not to move too much," the priest advised. "I'll send for a doctor."

"No," Cranky said, raising a hand. "I'm fine."

"I have to get going. There's a mass to be held in an hour. Would you like to rest in the residence?"

"I have to get going," Cranky replied, "but thanks for the offer. I'm gonna get back home and get something to eat."

**XXXXX**

Bison rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to ease the pain in his head from the incessant screaming and wailing in the background. He sat on a large metallic seat, not adorned with elaborate roman decorations like his other thrones were. This one was built right into the floor, complete with swivel feature. A single light hanging a few feet above his head was the only source of light in this room, save for the distant glow of countless computer panels lining the walls. A red carpet extended from the seat, situated in the center of the room, towards the wall were it met the bottom of a pair of large automatic doors, contructed with welded sheets of metal. The doors slid open with an electronic whir, giving way to Sagat, his prized Muay Thai warrior.

"You've done well, Sagat," Bison addressed. Sagat nodded his head, the dull light shining off his bald head.

"I live only to serve," he replied modestly.

"With your help, we've successfully emerged from Shadowlaw's weakest point. We will eventually build ourselves to our former glory, but it will be some time. However, I'm sure there will be participants in the tournament worthy of the Agent Initiative."

"The Agent Initiative?" Sagat asked curiously.

"It's a new brainwashing system developed by our scientists, superior to the Doll Program in every possible way."

"Sir …" Sagat said, "the Doll program was perfect!"

Bison grunted in response. "If it was perfect, the Killer Bee Cammy White would've never defected. The twelve other Dolls would've never recovered from their brainwashing from simply destroying the Psycho Drive."

"Still, you have the Shadow Technology at your disposal! Kenneth Feng is in confinement as we speak!" Sagat's voice was starting to raise in anger. Bison knew that although Sagat was a fine warrior, he had a rather large ego to contend with. Sagat wouldn't be pleased to think that his efforts retrieving Kenneth Feng, the first Shadow Solider, was all for nothing.

"The Shadow Technology and the Doll Program are both finished!" Bison declared. "But they had their merits – which we are using for the Agent Initiative."

"I don't understand, sir."

"The Dolls were perfectly loyal creatures. The brainwashing process they underwent was flawless – save for Cammy's. But my mistake was entrusting them with Psycho power to enhance their abilities, the very same Psycho power that dissolved upon the destruction of the Psycho Drive of the Alpha 3 tournaments nine years ago."

"I still fail to see how Kenneth Feng and his Shadow Technology fit into all of this."

"I relied on Psycho Power to enhance the performance of the dolls," Bison explained. "The Shadow Technology has the same effect on people, but it is self sustaining, and even supports life! How else do you think Kenny's been able to cheat death all these years?"

"So using the brainwashing power of the Doll Program and the self sustaining ability enhancement of the Shadow Technology …"

Bison grinned evilly. "We will create a new, elite force of Shadowlaw agents using the best of the tournament participants. The Agent Initiative will be the key to our success."

In the background, Kenneth Feng continued to scream as he hung by cables, suspended three feet into the air, a sharp data collector rod made of cold steel embedded painfully into his back where the Shadow Technology chip had been embedded nine years ago.


	9. Chapter 7: Apprehension

**Vammy** You know I never realized how funny the swivel feature was until I actually read it. And I found myself laughing out loud. I never intended for it to be humorous at all, just a little piece of description I could squeeze in to establish a scene. But the first thing that crossed my mind was this hulking caped man in red spinning around in his chair, knees to his chest, with a childish smile on his face. About Julian, I'm keeping him in undercover priest mode for now, until I find out what exactly happens to him in your story. I have to wait until you finish with him before I can take over, so that I don't screw up the consistency between our two stories anymore than I already have.

**Dagu**I'm not sure how many characters you're expecting, but I've already got nine street fighters involved in this storyline, although I guess only five have major roles. This chapter introduces one more. But I can't tell you how many more I'll be including because I don't know yet. When writing, I'm more concerned with how many side stories there are, who's involved in those, and how well they intertwine – not how many street fighter characters I can stuff into one story.

**BushinGuy**Yeah, I totally went on a hiatus without even planning on one. What can I say? Inspiration dried up for a bit. But after reading some other authors' stories and Vammy's death threats ;) I suddenly found the inspiration to start taking this story down its own path, not a clone of its prequel. It seems to be a popular belief among authors that if there are no reviews, that means people aren't reading the stories. I don't particularly care that I only get one or two people reviewing per chapter. I write for myself and I post it on here to share my imagination with others and hopefully inspire them too (after all, E-Z B's Resident Evil story was inspired by mine and I have his review to prove it!). But a review once in awhile is always nice, cause I like to know how I'm developing as a writer. Okay, I'm getting off on a tangent. What I wanna say is that although I may not always review regularly, I try my best. But that doesn't mean I'm not reading your story.

**E-ZB:** You know, I was always intrigued with Shadowlaw itself. Whether or not Capcom intended it, I don't know, but that evil organization is truly a force to be reckoned with. There's Bison and his three bodyguards at the top, then there's the elite 13 female assassin squad (the Dolls), the Shadow Technology (I dunno if that's a term I made up, but it's the same stuff that created Shadow and Shadow Lady in the Marvel crossover games) and all of the brainwashed agents like you mentioned. I'm only coining the term "Agent Initiative" because I don't think Capcom ever nominalized that movement.

**XXXXX**

"He's … he's finally gone." Yun gazed blankly at his palms, upturned to face him, but his hands were the last thing on his mind. "Grandfather Gen is dead." The overwhelming sorrow clutched at the youth's heart, choking him with his own remorseful cry. He bent his head down and cried into his hands, making sure that his baseball cap covered his features. He didn't cry often at all, despite being the younger of a set of twin brothers. He was a strong boy, having raised by Gen since he was an orphan. But his teacher, his father, his very role model in life had died. And it wasn't a peaceful event either. He'd died violently, coughing up blood, having his life ripped away as Yun watched it happen before his very eyes. And it was all the demon's fault. Akuma.

Yun's mouth frothed in hatred at the mention of the name. Akuma. More spittle. The mere thought of him ceased Yun's sobbing as he turned his sorrow into hatred. The youth slammed his fists into the ground where he sat, in a dirty alley littered with garbage somewhere in the heart of Hong Kong. "I'll make that demon pay, Grandfather, I promise you."

It was easier said than done. First of all, Akuma was an enigma, his existence itself just a rumor. It hadn't been confirmed to Yun until today – that fact that Gen had died in the demon's hands. Secondly, if he did find this evasive creature, how was he supposed to defeat it when it had defeated Gen? In Yun's world, Gen was the know all, end all in martial arts. Yun modeled his life after his teachings. And thirdly, motivation by revenge was something his grandfather had taught him to be against. Yun doubted Gen would ever consent to his pupil fighting the martial arts demon on his behalf.

Yang was probably wondering where his brother was now. After receiving the news, Yun had left their apartment in a hurry, storming out and slamming the door behind him. He ignored his brother's cries and just ran, not caring where he ended up. But he couldn't go back home now, not in this state, not before he did something about his anger and sorrow. Revenge had to be exacted on Akuma and suddenly, the perfect candidate came to mind. Someone to help him wage war against Akuma. Yun didn't know anything about the demon. All he understood was that he was responsible for Gen's death. That's all the excuse in the world Yun needed, anyway.

**XXXXX**

Blue eyes and blond hair cut close to his scalp, a typical Air Force hairdo. He was square-jawed, a small, sharp nose and a blemish-free face, Scott Wagner knew he was an attractive young man, and all that was just above his broad shoulders. Physically, he was built strong and sturdy with a runner's leanness, and muscle size just coming up short of the bodybuilding type. Too bad for him there weren't too many women around his work for him to impress, but there was always the bars and clubs on the weekends.

Here he was, a powerful chick magnet, hovering over his office phone and waiting for a man to call, just like a chick hopelessly in love. But Wagner was not in love. He was worried. Guile was more than just a buddy to go around and get drunk with to Wagner. Guile was twenty-something odd years older than Wagner and was the man responsible for taking him under his wing when Wagner's parents were murdered when he was a mere teenager. It had been a little under ten years since Guile had taken custody over him but Wagner had grown from an adolescent into a man under his guidance.

Because of this amazing feat – and forget the fact that Guile had also raised a girl around Wagner's age at the same time, it was inconceivable that Guile didn't have the responsibility to call around the same time he normally did. And if he couldn't call to check in, he'd at least have left an email, a voice message, something to indicate that he was busy! But there was nothing. It was ironic, Wagner noticed, that as a teenager, he abhorred the fact that Guile would always call to check in on him. But now that he was twenty five, out of the nest and independent, he found himself wanting Guile to call.

He glanced at his watch, reading 12:16 am. It had been time to go home around three hours ago, but he figured if he wanted a free weekend, he'd better stay behind and catch up on some paperwork. Besides, Guile liked to call the office before the house. There was hardly anyone on the base grounds at this time of the night, save for security which consisted of a bunch of high school jocks wanting to use their brawn before their brains.

_Ring!_

"Yes!" Wagner cheered out loud, swiping the cordless phone off its rest on his desk. "Wagner here," he called into the receiver. "Hello?" There was no response. "Heeeelloooooo!" There was only a strange breathing on the other end, erratic in pattern, like that of a dying old man. It sent chills up Wagner's spine.

"Mister Wagner," a dark voice said on the other end. It was the kind of voice that commanded authority, one that didn't have to strain to be heard.

"Who is this?"

"I would like to congratulate you on being a successful candidate for the Agent Initiative," the voice replied slyly. The speaker seemed to get a kick out of talking in code.

"Listen," Wagner spat, "I'm expecting an important phone call and I don't have time to waste with your telemarketing bullshit!"

"This isn't bullshit!" the speaker said sternly, the very nature of his voice forcing Wagner to shut up.

"Well listen, buddy, I have not the time nor interest to …"

"I'm sure Shadowlaw is of valuable interest to you."

"Shadowlaw? What kind of joke is this? We destroyed that organization years ago!"

"We're sending an escort team on their way to come pick you up. If you want to minimize the damage, I suggest you co-operate."

"HEY!" But the line was dead. Wagner had already forgotten about Guile. Thoughts on that mysterious phone call were swimming in his mind, along with a thousand questions that had developed. Who was it that called him? What was the Agent Initiative? How had they gotten his number and what did they want with him?

He wasn't going to get any answers just sitting in his desk with his heart thumping in his chest. Wagner hadn't felt fear like this for a long time. The army had told him not to be scared, had taught him to protect himself verbally, and how to fight. But dealing with Shadowlaw was always different. They rarely negotiated with their victims and often used brute force. The most worrying part was that their ranks consisted of well trained martial artists and they too had their own military force. Not to mention inhumane projects like the Doll Program and the Shadow Technology reflected accurately their value of human life, or lack thereof. Wagner couldn't blame himself for being scared, and he was facing the pick up crew in a few minutes. How long he had, there was no way of telling. Then, an idea came to him. If Guile wasn't going to call him, then perhaps he should call Guile and let him know what was going on! If Wagner was to be kidnapped, then at least he could leave an SOS.

He swiped the receiver up for the second time in less than five minutes and began dialing, only to realize that after dialing the fifth number in the sequence, the lack of a dial tone indicated that the line had been cut.

"Not good, not good," he repeated to himself as he scanned the room for anything to use as a weapon, across the carpeted floor, and artificial potted plants placed at the corners of the white walls, THERE! Right by the entrance was a set of wooden chairs with no back rest, just an arm rest that curved around the cushion, encircling about two thirds of the seat. They weren't too tall and definitely not too heavy to lift with one arm. Wagner ran to the door and locked it tight, then over to the windows just behind his desk and locked them too. He pulled the blinds down in a frenzy and headed back to the front of the room and shut off the lights before scooping up the chairs, one in each arm.

By now the sweat was trickling down his forehead. It was as if fate was catching up to him. Maybe Wagner was supposed to die that night Bison, the head of Shadowlaw himself murdered his parents and younger sister with his own two hands. Maybe Wagner's blood should've joined his family's on the dining room floor and all over Bison's hands. Whatever the case, Shadowlaw was here to take him now. He swore to himself as he stood in the centre of the room, gulping the lump in his throat, that no matter how afraid he was, he'd fight to the death and that he'd take some of those Shadowlaw bastards down with him.

The door to his office burst open with considerable force, splintering as it hit the ground. But there was no squad of armed, masked men like he'd expected. There was just one man, a giant, hulking figure of a man. His size was the only thing Wagner could be sure of in this darkness and he suddenly regretted turning out the lights.

"You're not taking me alive, fucker!" Wagner screamed, hurling the first chair at his kidnapper. But his heart nearly broke when he saw that the chair had just to collide with the giant's forearm before joining the door on the ground in a pile of splintered wood. Wagner threw the other, hoping that the man had been at least hurt or distracted by the first so that this one could impact him fully. But one solid kick that looked like it had been ripped straight from a how-to kickboxing book shattering it faster than the first. Residual splinters scraped against Wagner's arm as he could only stare in shock as the giant approached him. Now he could make out its features. The giant was well over seven feet tall, having a difficult time standing upright as his head scraped the ceiling. He had no hair. The only thing marking his face was an eye patch over his left eye. His broad, bare chest outsized even Wagner's by at least half the width of his. The giant's arms were as thick as Wagner's legs, and the legs as thick as his waist. There was no way he could win a scrap against this monstrosity but again, Wagner promised whoever was sent after him a fight.

Wagner launched his foot into the giant's chest but cursed himself immediately after. Given the size of the man, it would take more than a side kick to knock him to the ground. So he followed up the kick with a right hook, then a left, hoping to push the larger man into a corner and maintain his offensive. The giant was somewhat constrained by his height in this room, and Wagner hoped to keep him that way. But then –

"Tiger Uppercut!"

Both fighters flew through the ceiling, one by his fist, the other by having his body thrown against it. The fist had collided with Wagner with such force that he had sailed through the very roofing of this office, and out into the open night. Fortunately, the building was made of light wood. Anything harder and he was sure he would've broken a few bones. Wagner caught a glimpse of the stars glowing overhead, of the Milky Way shining its heavenly lights upon their mortal world. And then, he felt his body sink earthward and collide with the asphalt.

The giant landed a few feet away, looking at the beaten airman with a disgruntled frown. Perhaps he'd lasted much shorter than predicted? Wagner didn't know. He wasn't good at reading faces and was too preoccupied with the pain that plagued his body. He then closed his eyes, hoping to shut it out as best as he could, and unexpectedly fell into unconsciousness.

**XXXXX**

"Target apprehended," Sagat reported, calling into his walkie talkie as he picked up Wagner's limp form and slinging him over his shoulder.

"Excellent, Sagat," Bison said excitedly on the other end.

"But I don't understand, sir, what kind of importance does Scott Wagner hold?"

"I normally don't tolerate my subordinates questioning my decisions, but because of your successful missions, I believe you deserve some form of explanation. I want the Agent Initiative to be established quickly. The faster the better. But the Street Fighter tournaments haven't even started yet, and sufficient data on the warriors has not been gathered."

"But Wagner is merely an overgrown teenager, not a fighter."

"You have no idea what his capabilities are."

"I did take him out as ordered, sir."

"You did so to Kenneth Feng as well, Sagat! But their fighting abilities do not reflect what is hidden within them. Just as Kenny has the main Shadow chip in his body, Wagner has absorbed some kind of magnetic energy produced when I murdered his family. And that energy is still at work in his body today."

Sagat smiled with interest. "It's very unlike you to get to know your targets so personally, sir. You've killed many people in your lifetime."

"Yes, but I remember the Wagners now that I think about it. Scott's abilities have only been brought to my attention recently, after viewing what little information we've gathered on the street fighters and their associates in the past Alpha tournaments. He's connected to Guile, who is in turn connected to Charlie, our first true Shadow Soldier. After digging a little further, I've come to the conclusion that Wagner is a sufficient prototype to the Agent Initiative."

"And I will be delivering him to headquarters shortly."

"Good work. Upon which he can join the other."

"The other, sir?"

"The other prototype. The son of the head of a Latino gang that used to have a powerful influence in the States, the Latin Kings. Julian Marquez."


	10. Interlude: Collection Complete

**Bushin Guy: **Was the last chapter that short? Maybe I just had so much to write but I was too lazy to write it, hence a very compressed version of what I wanted to spit out at all you guys. As for reviewing your story, I have no problems doing it. I like reading it, actually. So no, you're not pressuring me at all. And I think it just plain sucks to find gaming soundtracks anywhere, except maybe Japan where gaming is actually a pretty significant underground culture. But I've been to the HMV on Orchard before, and from what I remember, they have A LOT of video game soundtracks. Nonetheless, good luck on your hunt.

**Tao Shui: **If only Ryu and Akuma's meetings were like this … then again, there would be no drama, no fanfiction, no video games – for the street fighter franchise anyway. And speaking of which, is it just me or are they taking waaaaaaay too long to come out with another official street fighter title? And I'm not talking crossovers.

**E-Z B: **Good to know Wagner's debut scene in this story was a good one. And I only say that because you're one of three people to say it! Thanks for your support. Now update your story faster!

**Vammy: **Lol, you know honestly I didn't even plan for Julian to be one of the subjects of Bison's new experiment. But then I figured – meh, we got two OC's in trouble with Shadowlaw, let's just make it three! That way there's not too few, but not too many to keep a track of either. Sides, remember when I told you this story was going to be a hybrid of my deleted stories? Remember when Wagner, Julian and Kenny faced Akuma on their own at the end of "Other Worlds"? Probably not … I deleted that story a long time ago. But yeah, this is another aspect I'm rewriting into this story.

**XXXXX**

The early afternoon sun was a huge weight on Ken's shoulders. More like an intense, sizzling pain as opposed to an unbearable weight, really. He shielded his eyes as he looked up at the giant glowing orb in the light blue sky – not a cloud in sight. The congestion of the crowd, the heavy traffic at lunch hour, and the summer heat was almost too much for him to bear. And he thought California had bad heat. The soft breeze whipped at his hair and his clothes, a welcome change from the heat that the leather jacket kept in. Remember that he still had it on, and the fact that it had clung uncomfortably to his body via a thin sheet of sweat, the removed it from his shoulders and back, practically having to peel off the layer of extra skin. And it was real too. Eliza would've never settled for faux leather.

The lineup was excruciatingly long. Warriors from all over the world, from countless different disciplines were enlisting for the preliminary rounds – the first set of matches that would ultimately determine who the tournament participants would be. There would be sixteen in all and Ken knew that he'd be right up there with Ryu, not a question about it.

And speaking of Ryu, Ken's friend stood in front of him in line, soaking up the sun's rays and the humid atmosphere like it didn't even phase him. The only movement Ryu's standing form made was the occasional ripple in his clothes and the tails of his dark red headband swaying in the gentle breeze.

Ken glanced at his watch. "Guile's not here yet," he noted to himself.

"It's not like him to be late," Ryu replied, acknowledging his friend's comment. "We probably just haven't seen him yet. There are many people here." Ryu's left eye twitched upon mentioning that obvious fact. Ken could understand though. Ryu had spent most of his younger years living in the secluded mountain regions of Japan, away from society, away from much human contact. He was a seasoned traveler, trotting all over the globe with the prize money he'd win every year from the Street Fighter tournaments in search for a new, worthy opponent. But right here, right now, there were too many people to look at, too many people to determine who would be a decent challenge for Ryu. It was mind boggling for a lone traveler like him.

"You're not gonna pass out on me, are you, buddy?" Ken asked, slapping Ryu's shoulder.

"I'll be alright …" Ryu said, unsure of his own words. "I just need to …"

"Meditate, yes I know." Their conversation was interrupted by a slight vibration in Ken's jean pocket. "Hold on a sec. It's probably Eliza with another one of her I-don't-want-you-getting-hurt lectures."

Ryu nodded, well aware that Ken would handle the situation with his wife in a matter of seconds. Over the years he'd dated Eliza, he had the ability to shut her up with a few sweet words. Ryu thought about mentioning the fact that Ken had a wife, and perhaps it was in his best interest to stop fighting and start having a family. But Ryu had always hesitated because he'd always known that the Shotokan discipline meant to Ken. If it wasn't for such martial arts training, there was no way he could be the man that he was today.

The cell phone unexpectedly fell from Ken's hand and crashed into pieces on the pavement. Ryu looked towards his feet in shock as people trampled over its electronic remains without a second glance. Ken hadn't moved from his spot, hadn't even made an attempt to salvage the pieces. His eyes stared blankly at his sneakers, his mouth gaping open.

"Ken," Ryu said, putting a hand on his shoulder, the other on his chest. "Are you alright?"

He looked at Ryu and tried to say something, his lower jaw moving but no sound was coming out. Ryu's heartbeat seemed to increase tenfold as time itself seemed to slow to a crawl. "Say something, Ken. Please, tell me what happened."

"J…Julian …" was the only word that escaped from Ken's mouth.

"Julian? Are you talking about your friend? What happened?" Ryu shook Ken by the shoulders, a little more violently this time, as if he could shake the very words from him.

"He's missing. They took him, Ryu. Julian's a strong guy, a good fighter, and they fucking took him!"

**XXXXX**

"Damn it, I'm sorry, Masters," Cranky cried into the phone. "I was probably the closest to Father Marquez. I was most likely the only one who could help him but I didn't hear anything! I just came in this morning to thank him for taking care of me when we got attacked last night and …" Cranky gulped, trying to swallow a dry wad of spit, but panic had a firm grip on him. "He was just gone! Blood splattered all over the walls of this goddamn church!"

It had been an innocent enough endeavor. Cranky was grateful to the young priest for having watched over him as he lay on the ground last night, his clothes soaking up the blood that spilled from his body. It was Father Marquez that had patched up his wounds and made sure he was alright. And the first thing he walked into was a blood splattered church. Pews had been cracked, splintered, even broken right down the middle. The candles were no longer in their rightful stands and instead lay in puddles of dried wax all over the altar, their flame having been extinguished hours ago. The ornate stained glass windows that adorned the sides of the church were smashed – every last one of them. There was barely a piece of glass that remained intact.

Worst of all though, the sight that gripped Cranky's heart with fear and guilt was the statue of the crucified Jesus, a figure that he'd been familiar all his life coming from an Irish family. He was taught that the symbol of Jesus on the crucifix was a symbol of their faith, of their duty as Catholics to spread his word, and the source of their strength. This statue of Jesus had snapped at the wrists, still nailed to their respective positions at the arms of the cross. But the rest of the body had broken loose and now stood upside down, suspended by the remaining nail in the statue's feet. The cheeks were smeared with blood that appeared to have been cried out of the statue's very eyes.

"It was probably that demon, Akuma!" Cranky said into the phone. "He's probably got Julian. I can't think of anyone else that might have a beef with him. Akuma came to us yesterday. Masters, can you hear me?" But the phone line was dead. The only word that Cranky had heard Ken Masters say was "Hello" upon picking up the phone.

Cranky began to regret calling Father Marquez's friend. He understood that the priest and the Shotokan artist were friends, but had no idea how close they were. He just felt like the right person to call at the time. Cranky was the first on the scene. There was nobody else to turn to – and informing the police right now didn't seem important. And perhaps the fact that Ken's number was written in Father Marquez's personal phone book that lay open on his desk helped Cranky with the decision. He didn't feel good going rummaging through the halls of such a sacred place, but after seeing the blood, he'd practically ransacked the entire building in search for the priest. But the search turned up nothing.

**XXXXX**

Wagner charged at the steel door for the thousandth time that afternoon – or was it night? It was impossible to tell the time of day in this dark, dank place. Shadowlaw may have been an incredibly rich, successful criminal organization. But it was obvious to the young airman that they'd barely spent a penny on their prisons, making the effort to make their guests as uncomfortable as possible. His shoulder screamed in pain from all the ramming, but the metal hadn't even scratched. The thing was rock solid and not budging, even under his weight.

"I'm gonna kill you fucking Shadowlaw bastards!" he yelled, burying his fist in the door, only to yank it back towards his stomach as he cradled it. He probably shattered his hand trying to break the door down. And if he hadn't, it sure felt like it. The combination of the physical and emotional agony was too much for him to handle as he sank to the ground on his knees, his forehead pressed against the door as he wept. "What the hell are they going to do with me!" But there was nobody to answer him in this place, nobody except that unconscious kid occupying the single bunk.

When Wagner had first been thrown in this cell, the kid lay unmoving on the bed. Wagner thought he might've been dead at first, but upon inspection, discovered that he had weak pulse and was probably either sleeping or unconscious. But the youth hadn't stirred for hours now – or at least what felt like hours, even with Wagner's cursing and swearing. He had to squint to get a good look at the boy in the dim light, but came to the conclusion that he had a lean build, probably a good sixty or seventy pounds lighter than Wagner himself. He looked Mexican, or from some kind of Latino background … or was it Asian?

Shadowlaw didn't seem to discriminate when it came to hostages. The ethnicity of Wagner's cell mate was hard to tell in this kind of light but he was certain that this boy was barely in his teens. He gave up trying to escape. It was more likely that he'd break himself before even taking a chip of metal from the door. Wagner walked to the far corner of the cell, opposite from where his cell mate slept and sank to his rear, crossing his arms over his chest, trying to find the most comfortable position to get some shut eye.

**XXXXX**

Ryu spotted Guile and Chun Li a few paces away, just beyond a line of people tightly packed together, anticipating their chance to enter the tournament and show off their skills. Ryu had Ken leaning on his shoulder for support, the latter weakened from the news he'd just heard on his cell phone. Ken hadn't spoken a word since and Ryu was afraid to bring anything up, unsure of his friend's reaction to anything he might say in this unstable state.

"Colonel Guile!" Ryu shouted over the noise of hopeful participants. "Over here!"

It wasn't so much Guile than Chun Li that heard Ryu's greeting. She looked over at him, and waved, pulling Guile along with her. He, too, seemed to be distraught, oblivious to what was happening around him. The two of them pushed and shoved their way through the crowd of people with a sense of urgency in their steps. Ryu could tell by looking into Chun Li's eyes that they had also experienced something that distressed them greatly.

"Ryu," Chun Li said, gasping for air. "We've got an emergency."

"You're telling me," the Street Fighter champion said. "We've just received word that Ken's friend, has gone missing."

"No …" Chun Li had looked like she wanted to say something but was quickly silenced by Ryu's news.

"Wagner," Guile managed to choke out, "he's gone too." Guile's words were expressed with regret and defeat, not exactly what Ryu was used to. From what he knew of Guile in their past experience fighting alongside each other against Shadowlaw, Guile was a strong man, able to put his emotions aside in the heat of battle and get the job done.

"Wagner?" Ryu asked curiously.

"It's his adopted son," Chun Li explained. "Guile raised him from a troubled teenager to one of the Air Force's finest. His office was discovered this morning, all torn up, his furniture shattered. As for Wagner himself, he's nowhere to be found."

Ryu's eyes widened in surprise. "That makes two more missing people. It hardly makes sense that Akuma would be after Julian, but now Guile's son too?"

"Akuma!" Chun Li was taken aback. "That's a name I haven't heard in awhile. Please don't tell me …"

"He's back in business, I'm afraid," Ryu explained. "Julian informed us shortly before his disappearance. Apparently, the demon confronted him and attempted to get information out of him."

"I thought Shadowlaw was responsible for this," Chun Li said. "But what in the world would Akuma want with Wagner and Julian!"

"I'll agree that it's not his style to kidnap random people. Akuma fights to win and it's just not his style to hide behind other people. This is a technique more suited to Shadowlaw."

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Guile said, speaking up suddenly.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea anymore," Chun Li advised, "not while you and Ken are in this state."

"It's our only chance at getting them back," Guile insisted. "And let's not forget that Shadowlaw also has Kenny at their disposal."

"Damn it," Ken wheezed, "there's too much going on right now. Where do we even start making things right again?"

"Well whatever we do, I think we can agree that we should stick together in this," Ryu suggested.

"Ryu's right." Guile said. "We'll stick to the plan. We can't allow Julian and Wagner's disappearance to set us back too much. One way or the other, our participation in this Street Fighter tournament is our lead in, whether it's Kenny, Julian or Wagner we're after. But I'm not gonna stop until we get all three of them back."

**XXXXX**

From the dark depths of the newly rebuilt Shadowlaw base near Mount Fuji, Bison was barely able to contain the childish grin that had spread across his visage. A panel of television screens were displayed before his large, caped form, each one projecting an image from specific security cameras, all of them scattered throughout the base. But there were only two that he was paying close attention to. One of them showed the darkness of a holding cell, in which two of his prize possessions were confined – Kenny, the biological descendant and the scientific research of the once-proud Shadowlaw scientist, Dr. Feng, merged into one, and Scott Wagner, the remaining member of the Wagner family that Bison had slaughtered with his own hands years ago. The boy was still recovering from his spinal tap, in which data from the Shadow Technology had been extracted to be input into the Agent Initiative. Once they made sure the data transfer from Kenny had been successfully completed, he would no longer be of any use to Bison and would be terminated. Wagner, on the other hand, would be the first to be outfitted with the combined abilities taken from the Shadow Technology and the Doll Program – the very first Shadowlaw agent of the Agent Initiative.

The other screen that had captivated the dictator was one that displayed the view from the main entrance, built eight stories underground. He had spent the last few hours in front of these screens, watching Wagner and Kenny, and the entrance for the arrival of Julian Marquez. The confirmation call had come through just a few hours ago, and Bison understood that even with the best technology available to him, it would still take some time for Balrog to return from retrieving Julian.

The boxer was the best candidate to send for someone like Julian. If anyone had what it took to stand up to the heir of a successful Latino criminal gang, it was Balrog, with his training in professional boxing and about as wide as Sagat from the powerful muscles in his body. Bison had seen Julian in action himself, back when he used to work for Shadowlaw and he was a respectful fighter in his own right. But then again, there was a reason why Bison made Balrog one of his right hand men.

"Please don't hurt my Julian," a voice pleaded in the background.

"Shut it, Daddy Marquez," Bison ordered. "I gave you my word that he wouldn't be harmed. And that's a lot, considering you work for me!" Julian's father was a real pain in the ass and Bison would've liked to sever all relations with the head of the Latin Kings, the sooner the better. But he also realized that cooperation with this gang was imperative to rebuild Shadowlaw to its former glory.

"Julian doesn't belong with Shadowlaw!" Senor Marquez insisted.

"You are the reason why he's involved with us," Bison reminded him. "But I must give you your well deserved credit in the creativity department. A Catholic priest! How far were you willing to go to hide your son from me!" Senor Marquez remained silent with absolutely nothing to say to defend himself. So Bison continued. "I must say though, he's a very good actor. And Balrog's more than a few pages short of a novel. I wonder how he was able to see through Julian's disguise."

"Please, Bison," Senor Marquez begged, "He's all I have left."

"Which isn't much," the dictator scoffed. "Not that I blame him. After what you did to him all his life … He'd probably be happy to undergo what we've got planned for him."

"I swear, if you lay a finger on him, I'll …"

"And we will kill your grandson, Dorian!"

"No, you can't!"

"But I thought Julian was all you had left? I don't take kindly to liars, Marquez. But you are amusing to me. Even still, my patience with you is far from limitless. I have the fate of you, your gang and your family in my hands. Don't say anything to cross me."

As if to emphasize Bison's point, the doors to the underground base opened to reveal Balrog's form, walking proudly in front as a few humanoid shapes moved about behind him in the shadows. The next figure to come into focus was none other than Julian Marquez, still in his priestly garb, which made Bison smirk. The man's hands were tied bound behind his back as he was escorted into the compound, flanked on either side by Shadowlaw soldiers armed with mean looking machine guns pointed at the faux priest.

His eyes fixed onto the other camera, displaying Wagner curled into the ball on the cold cement floor of his cell, fast asleep, and Kenny's unconscious form on the bed. He then looked back at Julian being led further into the compound.

"My collection is complete."


	11. Chapter 8: AIDS

Wagner was awoken from his sleep abruptly when a pair of strong hands gripped his arm, just under the armpit, and yanked him to his feet. The sudden movement jerked him from his solitude as he felt another pair of hands held him by his other arm.

"What the hell," he said, still disoriented.

"It's time," a voice replied.

"Time for what?" The face of the Shadowlaw goon was coming into focus - and there was not much to see, his facial features hidden under the shadow of the brim of his hat. Wagner looked at the other for answers, to see if he would elaborate, but the other soldier said nothing. They might as well have been clones of each other. There were no distinct features between the two goons, and Wagner wouldn't have been surprised if he found out they were experimenting with cloning.

"The AIDS is ready for you."

"Aids!" Wagner shrieked. What were these fucks planning on doing to him? Wagner had a good share of fraternizing in his youth and was somehow lucky enough to not come out with anything. He didn't cheat death just to do it again. They weren't going to take him. And he wasn't going to go anywhere without a fight. It clicked that he had said the same thing to himself before he was attacked in his own office, but then, they'd sent a monster after him. In this case, Wagner figured he could take on two Shadowlaw goons without straining a muscle.

He jabbed his heel into the shin of the goon on his right and stomped down on his foot with surprising strength. The man screamed in pain, releasing his grip on Wagner's right arm. With his newly freed limb, Wagner sent his fist flying into the face of the goon on the left, battering his nose into a bloody pulp with one strike.

"So Shadowlaw's experimenting with sexually transmitted infections now? Good God, if you ever developed a weapon ..."

"AIDS ... acronym for Agent Initiative Development System," the first goon said as he wheezed in pain on the ground.

"Oh ..." Wagner was speechless as relief washed over him. He instantly felt shame, embarrassed at the way he freaked out.

"And if the Pentagon really knew what Shadowlaw was up to," the goon continued, "it figures they would've told you. But since you don't know about the Agent Initiative program ..."  
That meant the US army really hadn't a clue what Shadowlaw was up to. It was stupid of them, stupid of Wagner to have figured that such an organization would never stay down for long. He shouldn't have just assumed they were gone for good, just because they were taken down in the Alpha 3 tournaments and Bison killed. Wagner had read about the Shadow technology and the Doll Program before and grown somewhat familiar with the kind of experiments they were conducting. Who knows if they'd found a way to revive the dead? They might as well have, with the kind of scientific success they've had thus far.

"Little boy wants to play, huh?" somebody asked from behind Wagner, who instinctively turned to face his new opponent. He had dark skin and short black hair, sitting on top of his round face. He was dressed in a white quarter sleeve T-shirt with a tight blue wife beater over it, accentuating a broad chest. Though Wagner could see the muscle striations in his bare arms, after having seen Sagat, this man didn't intimidate Wagner as he could have under normal circumstances. But Wagner made a note to watch out for the mean looking boxing gloves on each of the guy's fists. He wasn't dressed in the typical Shadowlaw uniform, indicating that he was above the grunts - but how far above, he wasn't sure.

"And I'd love to play with you," Wagner retorted, "but in this case, I don't think I could rearrange your face anymore than it already is."

"Ooh, you'll regret the day you said that to Balrog!" the Shadowlaw boxer said, puckering his face into a wince. And then, there was the punch.

Wagner deflected it without much problem but the sheer momentum Balrog's fist was moving at send vibrations up and down the radius of his arm. It hurt badly, but Wagner wasn't about to show it, retaliating by seizing Balrog's bicep with his left hand, jabbing his right elbow into the boxer's throat. As Balrog fell, he wrapped an arm around Wagner's thigh and pulled the airman off his feet and onto the ground.

Wagner's head hit the concrete with considerable force as he struggled not to let himself black out. Balrog's foot came down on his face, only to be stopped inches before making contact with Wagner's nose. He held up the boxers booted foot with both hands, straining to keep them from contacting his face - or he'd never be able to get another girl in his life. The realization dawning on him, Wagner found a new source of motivation, increasing the adrenaline that flowed through him two fold. He kicked his leg up with surprising flexibility and dug the toe of his sneakers into Balrog's abdomen.

The boxer had lost his balance, as Wagner refused to let go of his foot. Wagner twisted it, not hard enough to break it but definitely enough to sprain something, causing the boxer to come crashing to the ground.

XXXXX 

Kenny awoke to the grunts of exertion, cries of pain and the crashing of flesh and bone with cement. He moved his head and tried to open his eyes, but the mere effort dizzied him, sent shooting pains into his eyes. God, it felt like a hangover! Not that he knew what a hangover felt like ... Determined to get to his feet and find out what was going on, he rolled onto his side and nearly screamed out in pain. It was as if his lower back had been glued to the bed, and rolling over had tore out a chunk of flesh from his body.

He ran a hand gently along where he felt the pain, relieved to find that he was still in once piece. But that didn't stop his back from hurting. What had they done to him? Implanted something? Then he remembered hearing a story when he was a kid about a man who woke up in a tub of ice after sleeping with a woman. The first thing he saw was a piece of paper taped to the side of the tub with the phone number to the local hospital on it with instructions to call the number or he'd die. Turned out the woman had stolen his kidneys to sell them on the black market.

Kenny felt the color drain from his face. He felt his back again. He'd been stitched up - he could feel the stitching but there seemed to only be one. The would had been bandaged up with a thin cloth that had absorbed some of his blood. People had two kidneys. So that means if they took anything, he still had one and could live. Or maybe they took something else! Kenny had another panic attack, his hands gripping the side of the bed. The fear gave him the strength to sit upright and ignore the pain that coursed through his body.

"Ooh, you'll regret the day you said that to Balrog!" someone said from outside, reminding him that it sounded like a fight was going on out there. That most likely meant that at least one person in the fight was on his side. There had to be. And hopefully that same person would have some answers to what happened to him.

The cell door was open - and it had only just occurred to him. He got up slowly from the bed, at a pace he could bear and shuffled over to the door, the light in the hallway guiding his direction. Right before he stepped into the hallway and out of his cell towards freedom, a dark form fell right in front of him to the ground with a resounding splat, right on his face. It looked as if he'd tripped or something.  
Kenny looked over and caught a glimpse of a young, blond haired man releasing the foot of the first. He looked back down at the first man, who remained motionless on the ground with a confused expression on his face.

XXXXX 

"You're finally awake," Wagner commented, still lying on his back on the ground. His cell mate just continued looking at him with a "what-the-fuck" expression etched on his face. Turns out the kid was Asian after all, now that Wagner could see more clearly, definitely not a teenager yet - but almost. He had short black hair, slit almond shaped eyes ... and looked somewhat familiar to him. He could imagine seeing this kid in black and white ... and then it struck him. "Are you ... little Kenny?"  
The "what-the-fuck" expression on the youth's face turned into shock, horror and disgust. "Who the hell are you, and how would you know!"

"Colonel Guile raised me. He kept a picture of you from the missing person's list in his wallet and he's mentioned you a few times."

"That's kinda creepy," Kenny commented. "Who's Guile?"

"He's kind of a mentor of mine but … you don't remember him?"

"No …"

"Sorry, I've probably got the wrong person then."

"The one I'm talking about is supposed to be dead." Now it became more apparent to him that Shadowlaw just might have been experimenting with technology that could raise the dead.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how that rumor got started, cause my Uncle Ken supposedly told me I'd died and …" Kenny said scratching his head, "but can this wait for later? Looks like we got jailbreak to make."

"I'm for it, man," Wagner said, kicking himself up from the ground.

"Where'd you learn to do that?"

"In the army," he replied. "They don't teach you nothing, you know." Kenny shrugged.

The two of them began started running down the winding corridors of the jail complex. Wagner had no idea where he was going but Kenny followed close behind, like he had no idea where to go himself. So far, they hadn't heard any alarms going off so at least it gave them that much of a head start. But how were they to find their way out of here? This place was a maze, as far as Wagner was concerned, every corridor looking like the one before it – just a dark, cement building with bare light bulbs for lighting. The cell doors that passed them by quickly weren't even numbered, so it was impossible to tell if they were going in circles.

The thought of freeing some of his fellow prisoners crossed Wagner's mind. But he didn't have the keys or the time to free them all. And there was no way of telling how occupied the complex was. Wagner could no longer sense Kenny running close behind. He shot a glance over his shoulder as he ran, seeing the youth hunch over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath while his face was twisted into a mask of pain.

"Are you alright?" Wagner asked, backtracking to where Kenny squatted.

"I'll be alright," he replied. "It's just that whatever they did to me … tore open my back or something, it's killing me. I just need a few seconds for a breather before we …"

"We've got no time for that," Wagner said, scooping up Kenny in one arm effortlessly, and continued running down the hall.

There was still no alarm sounding, unless it was silent. Wagner cursed at himself for not thinking it sooner. Maybe the Shadowlaw goons were already waiting for them outside, their guns pointed at the door they would eventually burst through. The idea slowed him down and Kenny noticed.

"Put me the hell down," he insisted, his face green with sickness.

"Are you feeling better enough to run on your own now?"

"Worse," he admitted. "But do you even know where you're going?"

"No … I thought maybe you might've been able to tell me where to go. You weren't arguing on which way we were headed."

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know!" Kenny asked. "I thought you knew the way out. God, we're screwed. And now they're gonna kill us for leaving out cells."

"Oh, your fate is much, much worse than death, my friends." Standing in front of the pair of them was a large caped form draped in a dark shadow, the brim of the hat hiding all of the figures facial features, save for his chin. Wagner could see armored boots pointing out from the bottom of the cape, wrapped around the figure's broad shoulders. He didn't have to look twice to know who it was. He'd met M. Bison, the dictator that ran the Shadowlaw criminal organization in the past and needed no reintroduction. "Well, at least that goes for Wagner. As for you, brat …" he tipped his chin in Kenny's direction, "I'm glad to report that the Shadow Technology data has been successfully extracted from the chip embedded in your back. And that means we no longer need you."

Kenny didn't even have time to understand what Bison was saying, no time to even blink. A large, purple ball of energy that seemed to have been launched from the dictator's own palm shot out from his body like a bullet, spreading his cape open with its sheer force and collided with Kenny's chest, flooring the youth in a second.

"What the hell!" Wagner shrieked, facing Bison. Something was seriously wrong. Bison wasn't this strong the last time he, Guile and Cammy faced him in battle. Wagner was so sure he'd been destroyed, but here he was standing before Wagner more powerful than he'd ever seen the man.


	12. Chapter 9: New Prisoner

Vammy: Oh … what this? An update! ;)

Tao Shui: Hey, did you play the new Capcom fighting game, Capcom Fighting Evolution? It's supposed to be really good but I haven't had the money, nor interest to go out and buy it.

Bushin Guy: I tried adding a little more fighting in this one but alas, my inspiration is at an all time now right now. Hopefully this chapter (and other authors subsequent ones) will get the creative juices flowing.

XXXXX

"I'm going after Chun Li." There was silence, not the strong support Yun was expecting after he announced the news to his brother. Yan sat at the dining table, rubbing his brows with a thumb and forefinger. Not exactly the reaction that Yun wanted, but he continued anyway. "She's the only one who can help us track Akuma down. That demon deserves to pay for ..."

"Shut up, Yun," Yang finally spouted, "just shut the hell up!" His voice was raised, his face suddenly red. It was obvious he wanted to say more, but for the sake of avoiding a fight, he kept his mouth shut.

But for Yun, it was too late to avoid any form of confrontation. "How can you say this?" he asked softly, his tone hurt. "Our grandfather, the very man who saved us as orphans, who raised us as his very own ..."

"Would not want us to do this on his behalf!" Yang said. "Think about it. We were his pupils, nowhere near his level of skill, even now! And yet, he lost to Akuma. What in the world would put the idea what we could defeat Akuma in that cocky little head of yours? Be reasonable for once in your life."  
"So what, you're suggesting that we carry on with our lives as we normally would without lifting a finger on Grandfather's behalf?"

"We have no choice. We don't have the skill accomplish your twisted honorable mission. And think about Chun Li. She's a busy lady who most likely doesn't have the time for this kind of news. The Street Fighter II tournaments are beginning and she's probably stressing herself out, training for this event. Losing her father was more than enough for her to bear and now you want to tell her about Master Gen?"  
"I don't think keeping the news from her would help any better," Yun said. "She has a right to know."  
"NO!" Yang insisted, smashing his fists on the table. Any more force and he would've likely shattered even the hard wood it was made of. "Now is not the time, not for her."

"Fine." Yun turned around and stormed out of the room, out of the apartment building, slamming the door behind him as he went. If Yang wasn't going to support him, he was just going to have to talk to Chun Li himself. But how? Their Grandfather's former pupil was all the way in Japan preparing for the tournaments, and here in was miles away in Hong Kong.

And the answer came to him just like that. It was so simple. Under Master Gen's reccomendation, both Yun and Yang had started their own savings account with the bank. He wanted a prosperous life for the two of them, being young and having their futures ahead of them. Unfortunately, it was a lifestyle he wasn't able to provide for the twins. So over the years, the twins had gotten part time jobs, put their money in the bank, and now it sat there waiting for Yun to use. And what a more honorable way of using that money to avenge Gen's death! He would buy a plane ticket over to Osaka and somehow hook up with Chun Li. It couldn't be too hard to find the Street Fighter tournament registration, or the Osaka dome where preliminaries were being held.

Yang would object if Yun uttered a word about it to him, so he decided to keep it on the down low for now.

XXXXX

"Cranky, I can't talk now." Cammy swiftly turned her back on the Irish American who stood at her hotel room door looking like a lost puppy, his hair disheveled, dirt and sweat caked on his face. His gruff demeanor filled her with lust the moment she laid eyes on him since their breakup, but she was quickly able to suppress the primal instinct and almost slammed the door in his face.

"You're still mad at me," he said.

"Gee, ya think!"

"Well now's not the time to be holding grudges," Cranky said, wondering if he should take another step further into her room.

"Tell me about it. I've got to get ready for the preliminary rounds for the street fighter tournament. I'm a late registrant and they're only choosing four 'new' warriors. I have no time to play with you right now, that's assuming I even want to."

"There are bigger things at work than the tournament!" Cranky shouted, instinctively punching the door with a solid fist. "Julian-"

"Yes, I know about Julian, thanks!" Cammy screamed back, cutting him off. "And that's what's got me so damned strung up! And being a late registrant doesn't do much for my chances of infiltrating the tournament and rescuing him and Wagner!"

"Wagner?"

"What, you don't already know?" Cammy asked bitterly, staring at him from hatefully from the corner of her green eyes. "They've got him too. And just because I think you've got a right to know, they abducted Kenny, too. In fact, he was the first one to go."

"They WHAT!" And then suddenly, as if contradicting his sudden energetic outcry, Cranky's body went slump, leaning back on the door for support.

"That's right," Cammy said, seemingly relishing the damage she'd done to the only man she ever loved, the man she swore was her soul mate until he went around and cheated on her. "And I'm going there to get the three of them back. My friend, my brother, and YOUR kid brother. And I don't think you want to get in my way."

It didn't seem like Cranky was paying attention to her at that point. He just looked at the plush carpet with confusion on his face, shaking his head wondering what to do next. Cammy continued speaking.

"Now," she said, picking up a large black duffel bag that lay at her feet, "if you don't mind, I have to get going. Take care of the place for me while I'm gone." She slammed the door like she had intended to earlier as she walked out of the suite in an all-business manner with Cranky still inside.

This was the second time Cammy had to leave Cranky for a mission. She could tell he was sensitive about the whole role reversal issue, how he was the man and should be the one leaving, not her. But the first time, Cammy didn't want to leave him. She practically tore herself up inside, choosing her responsibilities over her own personal wants and needs. But today it was different. It was her own personal want and need to get the hell away from Cranky as fast as she could. Her last comment was to provoke Cranky's insecurities, to take a jab at his manhood, this time for her enjoyment. She was aware that she was being a vengeful little bitch, but God, it felt good.

XXXXX

Cranky had sank to the floor of Cammy's suite, the events recently revealed to him too much for him to bear. He only sat down and stared at him palms. He hadn't known Father Marquez for very long, but the seemingly innocent, good hearted priest had taken care of Cranky when he needed aid. It didn't feel right just letting Cammy and her company to and rescue him while Cranky stayed behind and did nothing. Then again, Delta Red was well trained to deal with organizations like Shadowlaw and Cranky was just a street thug.

Looking for an excuse to go in there and help them, he settled on Kenny. Shadowlaw had him too, and it was imperative, for Cranky's morale anyway, to get in there and get Kenny out. The truth that he was trying so hard to deny was that he didn't want to lose Cammy again. When she didn't come back from her first mission, she had him worried sick for days on end, unable to eat or sleep, or even steal from people to be able feed himself. The only thing he could think about was her. It didn't matter that she was being a bitch right now because she had every reason to. The horrible things she said to him before leaving hadn't even scarred him. Knowing that he was unfaithful to her was a thousand times more painful than that.

XXXXX

Wagner was thrown viciously against the wall, violently colliding with the cement surface with his back, strong enough fracture something in his back. Wagner's body slumped onto the floor, blood trailing from a broken lip. He looked at Bison who stood towering above him, who had hardly broken a sweat, swatting him away like some insignificant fly. His eyes darted over toward Kenny who lay unmoving just a few feet away. How powerful did the dictator become? Wagner had tried attacking him with his infamous Magnetic Break maneuver but Bison had simply grabbed his ankle and tossed him aside.

"Is that all you have to amuse me?" Bison asked with a smirk spread across his visage.

"I'm not done yet!" Wagner replied, pushing himself off the ground and launching his body upwards, extending his fist towards the dictator's face.

Bison slapped his hand away with an open fist and retaliated with an open-palm strike to Wagner's chest, flooring the young airman for the second time in three seconds. Blood flew from Wagner's mouth from the impact, adding to the red on Bison's suit. "You'll regret the day you spilled your filthy blood on me, airman." He delivered a bone shattering kick to Wagner's ribs who could only squirm in agony on the ground.

He was about to kick Wagner again, this time in the face, when a voice stopped him. "Sir?"

Bison spun around to meet the face of a Shadowlaw goon, this one barely out of the military staring at him with a look of confusion on his youthful face. "Isn't that one of the subjects for the Agent Initiative?"

Bison was at a loss of words for a moment, realizing that he was indeed about to destroy one of his newest prized possessions. "What are you doing outside of your post!" he demanded, trying to hide his folly. The truth was, Bison had no idea where this young man's post was, but it most likely wasn't here.

"I…I'm a prison guard, sir," he young goon replied, "and I'm about to start my shift. I'm bringing in the other subject right now."

Taking a quick look behind the young goon, Bison noticed "Father" Julian Marquez standing there, his face an expression of shock upon seeing the dictator's vicious assault on Wagner. "Let that be a warning to you," Bison threatened the newest prisoner. "Defy me and you will end up like these two sore losers." He turned back to the goon. "Take them to their cells. And dispose of the boy. We no longer need him."


	13. Chapter 10: Crucial Decision

Ominae: I'm not sure yet if Maki will come back. The Final Fight characters are not a part of the Street Fighter II storyline, the same storyline that this particular fic revolves around. So I don't see myself including them anytime soon.

Bushin Guy: Yes, I received your email, and thanks for your support. Sorry that my reviewing has been kinda off lately. I always read the chapters, but sometimes I forget to review. And I know how authors love their reviews. But since my last one, I notice you haven't updated. So what are you waiting for! ;)

Vammy: Oh, it's incredibly not over between Cranky and Cammy. There will definitely be a round two, and a lot of drama between them to work on. I'll be sure to continue what you've started to the best of my ability, as I'm aware that your fic is ending soon. But just so you know, I'll be hounding you to write yet another sequel.

XXXXX

Through the bright stadium lights that half-blinded him, it was difficult for Guile to get a good sense of his surroundings. He could hear the sheer energy from the spectators, all crammed into the tiers that surrounded the arena. Camera flashes arbitrarily went on in the masses, but they weren't as bad as the lights the illuminated the fighting arena.

Just a few meters in front of him, Guile thought he could hear the hollers and hoots from some kind of animal, the prospect actually insulting him a little. So Shadowlaw was going to test his fighting skills in the tournament by pitting him up against a dog? Guile scoffed, as he took out a small comb from his back pocket and ran it upwards through his hard.

"Bring it on," he said.

And a split second later, he ate his words. With a deafening howl, the creature leapt at him – or did something, he couldn't quite figure it out as the next thing he knew, he was seeing stars and found himself lying flat on his back on the mat. The world suddenly became blurry as Guile forced himself to sit up, struggled to get his vision to readjust.

He didn't want to admit it, but he could've sworn his opponent was some kind of hulking green, furry creature with long red hair. Deciding that his vision would take a few seconds too long to clear up, Guile threw himself forward blindly, ducking down low to kick the creature once, twice in the shins, temporarily stunning it. The opportunity bought him a few precious seconds to cancel into a special move – the Sonic Break. Guile swung his arms across his body leaving a trail of spinning chi behind, catching the creature in a twenty two hit combination attack. It howled in pain as it was thrown to and fro from the attack, as the last hit sent it sprawling into the canvas.

Guile was seeing alright now, and he was definitely seeing the creature. What the hell happened to it? There were human characteristics in the face, and in its muscularity but the amount of hair – no, it was so thick it might as well have been fur, it was green!

Deciding to keep the pressure on the creature, he continued his offensive, dashing forward and tucking his body into a roll to deflect a painful looking claw swipe. He extended a fist to attempt a punch, but was immediately met by an electric shock that face planted him a few feet away.

This was impossible. Was it not one of the tournament rules that weapons were forbidden during the match? Looking at the creature again, he could see no electric device of any sort strapped to it. So then where did the shock come from? It wasn't like it could channel electricity through its skin, on top of its freaky appearance, could it?

XXXXX

"Guile's really taking a beating out there," Chun Li said, sipping from a cup of hot tea in her hands. Ken's face was pressed up against the window of the viewers box, silently cheering Guile on, not really paying attention to her.

"He'll be alright," Ryu assured. "I've seen the man take care of himself before." His eyes looked almost closed, as if he were replying to her in the middle of meditating. Ken and Ryu were dressed in their traditional sleeveless karate uniforms – Ken's being red and Ryu's being white. The colors somewhat matched their personalities. Ryu was always more reserved, more neutral then Ken, who thought with his heart more than his head. And that was probably why Ken had landed a girl first …

"He probably wouldn't remember Blanka from the Alpha tournaments," Chun Li continued. "I know some top Shadowlaw scientists would love to get their hands on him, maybe dissect him and figure out the genetic makeup of one of nature's flaws."

Ryu awoke from his meditation. "That was a little uncalled for, don't you think?"

"It's not necessarily a bad thing." She was quick to defend herself. "But it's the truth. If nature had intended for him to be this way, don't you think there'd be others like Blanka out there?"

"His appearance shocked me initially too," Ryu admitted. "But what concerns me more is that Shadowlaw might take advantage of his uniqueness and use him as another of their test subjects."

"That's why we're here," Chun Li said, "to put a stop to their practices, and to get our friends back."

XXXXX

Cammy stood in the winner's circle now, at least in the newcomer's category and her body was aching with the fresh wounds. She sat down in the side benches watching the current fight unfold between Guile and some green beast. Cammy's heart grew heavy as she watched. The official tournament had already started and assuming she was one of the four warriors chosen to join the ranks of the tournament, she could begin on her real mission - to find Julian, Wagner and Kenny.

Why had Shadowlaw chosen to torment her of all people? Julian was a dear friend. Wagner was her brother, and Kenny was practically Cranky's little brother. She never knew him personally, but she knew how important he was to Cranky. These three people, all very dear to her circle of friends and family had been chosen by Shadowlaw and for whatever reason, she had no idea. And knowing the antics of the criminal organization, she was afraid to even consider the possibilities.

Cammy wiped her brown with the back of her hand, never taking her eyes off the fight between Guile and the beast. She understood that human or not, the thing was no different than any of the other tournament participants. But she knew that Guile, just like she did, had a vendetta against Bison that he needed to settle. Not to mention that his son was one of the missing people allegedly kidnapped by Shadowlaw. 

"You look tense."

She turned her head to the man sitting beside her, arms folded tightly across his chest as he stared straight ahead. He was a unique looking character, short black hair, narrow chestnut eyes and a permafrown.

"I am," Cammy replied simply.

"I have a feeling you'll make it in," the man continued. As Cammy took a second glance at him, she found herself stifling a smirk. He was a short man, around her height - but considering Cammy was female, this guy was a little one compared to his testosterone producing bretheren.

"Heh, then you're more sure than I am."

"The arrogant ones usually get cut from the tournament. They make the mistake of judging their opponents before they can be tested in the arena. You, I've seen you fight. You're careful. And you don't go on the offensive until you're sure you can recover if you miss. Otherwise, I notice a respectable space between you and your opponent."

"How observant." Cammy nodded her head. She had to agree with him. That was the way her mind worked in a fight. Don't stick your neck out if you can't save it yourself. Now if she only followed that same motto in life, it would've saved her alot of hardship ... namely theat Cranky ... foul thoughts began to fill her mind, but she shut them out, knowing that if her emotions got in the way so far into the rounds, there was a good chance they'd cloud her judgement in the arena and get her kicked from the tournament. With what was at stake, there was no way she could allow that.

XXXXX

"Please, T. Hawk, you can't go!" Juli tugged at her brother's arm, but with her petite size, could never physically force the much larger, muscular man away from the arena grounds. He looked down from a great height at the young woman and his eyes immediately filled with tears of love.

T. Hawk looked at his sister and noted what a fine lady his sister had turned into. She had only been a child when Shadowlaw had taken her from him and their family. During the time she spent with the organization, she had surely matured - physically speaking. But her mind, due to the memory wipe she'd undergone as an agent of the Doll Program, her mentality was still that of a fourteen year old girl, the age she was when she'd been taken.

"I don't want anyone I love to have anything to do with Shadowlaw anymore," she insisted, never releasing his forearm from the grip of her delicate, porcelain hands. "I thought we were through with them after the Alpha tournaments!"

"Juli ..." T. Hawk began regretfully, "You know we need to overthrow the masterminds behind this tournament. They may no longer have you, but as long as they continue to exist, other families like our own will be in danger."

"Don't you think we've suffered enough!"

"Our land," he said, more sternly this time, "has been abused by their organization for the last time. Our tribe has been displaced. So yes, I believe we've suffered enough. And I'm here to end it."

"We can go," Juli pleaded, "we can run. For God sakes, T. Hawk, we can live anywhere we want as long as its away from Shadowlaw."

"You're willing to run from your boyfriend?"

Juli didn't answer the question, but her face told T. Hawk everything he needed to know. The way she looked down at the ground, the way she released his arm and started rubbing her hands together as if to comfort herself, he knew that the boy had done something to hurt her.

XXXXX

Kenny limped down the hallway in an orange jumpsuit, his wrists chained together in front of him. The tall, intimidating Shadowlaw goons that flanked him on either side stayed silent, looking straight ahead, their faces not showing a trace of emotion. Kenny's heart thumped in his chest. This was to be the end of his life and he knew it. The long walk had given him a lot of time to reflect.

He couldn't remember the first six years of his childhood, due to a supposed memory wipe. He'd always wanted to know before he died but the way things were looking, he wasn't going to. Who were his parents? How had he attained the Shadow Technology that was now crucial to Shadowlaw's scientific advancements? How did he ever get involved with Uncle Ken and Aunt Eliza and why did they choose to give him money but let him live on the streets?

Kenny didn't want this to be the last thoughts on his life. There were so many questions that he would never be able to answer. And from the little that he could remember, he wanted to make the best of it and see the good that has come out of his life. It was a challenge, Kenny admitted, traveling to different places over the course of his life with the funds that Uncle Ken had provided him with.

The first city in the United States that Kenny had ventured to after his supposed memory wipe was Angel Grove, California, a small city running rampant with all sorts of creatures that supposedly came from the moon. There, he'd met a friend by the name of Adam Park who turned out to be one of the chosen guardians of the city – a guardian chosen by forces that weren't exactly mortal. Kenny had been caught up in the succession of attacks that assaulted the city and deciding that all the action was too much for him, decided to pack his bags and leave for the mid-Western town of Raccoon City.

Raccoon wasn't much of an improvement either, run by the likes of the Umbrella Corporation – a pharmaceutical company that illegally dealt with bioorganic weapons of mass destruction. The term didn't accurately reflect what it was exactly those weapons did. They turned people into the living dead. The worst part of it was the accidental leak that spilled through the entire town turning the quaint mid-western community into a living nightmare of survival horror.

His escape from Raccoon City and the entire Umbrella Corporation nightmare had only happened a mere three months ago. Hoping to continue his life in peace, Kenny decided to return to Osaka when all of this started happening. He didn't want to die. He didn't live through all that hardship to perish here at the hands of Shadowlaw. As he continued along the corridor to God knew where, the realization that there was nothing he could do sank in, causing tears of sadness, disappointment and frustration at the helplessness of the situation to sink in.

_Uncle Ken, Aunt Eliza, thank you for making sure I always had food to eat and a good school to go to. Cranky, thanks for taking care of me even though I probably pissed you off more times than I can count. Ryu, thanks for taking me off the streets and teaching me not just to be, but to live with honor. Adam, Chris, Claire, Leon, everyone … _

And the hallway abruptly ended in what looked like a dead end, until a set of metallic sliding doors opened up to reveal the outside world. Kenny stood on a rocky ledge that stretched out by only a few feet. Beyond that, the vast, cloudless sky stood overhead, cotton ball clouds parting to reveal the sun's brilliant rays shining upon the earth. Below, a thick forest stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The click of guns caught Kenny's attention as he spun around to face the guards, who now had the barrels of their firearms aimed at him. He gulped and hesitantly considered the alternative. The only control of his life now … was how to end it.


	14. Interlude: Saved

**E-Z B:** You know, that sounds like a pretty good idea. I think I may employ it!

**Groove:** I hope you don't mean I should post a story like what you suggest, in the place of this one! I'm having a lot of fun writing this story and hey, the reviews don't hurt either! But yes, I've actually had that idea before too, but I realized that the only people reading such a story would be the ones following each one of my fics all the way through from Act 1 to the end. And I honestly don't think there are any of those.

**Ominae** Intense action, coming right up! I've got this feeling that this story is about to start picking up the pace. I've had ample time to form relationships and drama, but I'm reaching the point where the climax should be coming up within the next couple of chapters, so stay tuned!

**Tao Shui:** …I highly doubt Akuma is Italian, but whatever floats your boat! I actually haven't played Capcom Fighting Evolution either. It seems like they chose random characters from these great games. But since when was Chun Li a good representative of Street Fighter 3? It's a pity Capcom never focused on the stories of their fighting games because they seem very interesting. Ah well, more space for us fanfiction writers to fill in the blanks!

**Vammy** T. Hawk won't be kicking the shit outta Cranky, as much as Cranky deserves it. It's just not in the big man's nature. He's a native … Mexican (?) who is at one with nature and is peaceful unless the situation calls for his skills. Since you're telling me you can't wait long for the next chapter, I decided to put this up ASAP for you! Well, I guess it also helps that I had so many ideas running through my head, I couldn't wait to get them down in writing. Hope you enjoy the drama in this one!

**XXXXX**

Julian Marquez stared at his hands, folded neatly on his lap, his head bowed as if in prayer. But his eyes weren't closed, and his mind was far from clear. From the eyes of an observer, he would have appeared to be in concentration at the smooth oak beads of the rosary clasped between his hands.

But the thoughts running through his mind were anything but holy. His cool, collected posture betrayed the raw emotion he felt inside. There was so much going on at once. The priest charade that was meant to protect him from Shadowlaw had backfired. He didn't want to become this religious leader, but realized it was necessary to hide himself from the organization. But he'd been so good at what he pretended to do that he became a recognized figure in the local Catholic community and being Osaka, Japan, that meant not a whole lot of people. But somehow, they were still able to track him down. Francisco Marquez, Julian's father, had worked hard and lied even more to get his son to safety – which was about the only nice thing he ever did for Julian. But all his work had become undone in the last few hours.

Secondly, Julian had simply stood there as Bison gave the order to dispose of Kenny. At the time, his instincts were telling him to jump in there and beat the stuffing out of the guards as they hauled the unconscious teenager off the floor and dragged him away. But he knew that if he moved a muscle to help, Julian would've joined Wagner on the ground. There was a war going on in Julian's mind – his conscience punishing him for not making a move when he could've saved Kenny's life, and his brain telling him that there was nothing he could've done either way … and worst of all, there was the dread. Julian only now took into consideration that Kenny was important his best friend, Ken Masters. Ken had invested tens of thousands of dollars in the kid, even cared about him, and Julian had just stood there as his adopted son was sent of to the slaughter. How in the world was he going to tell Ken?

And Cranky … the man that had so selflessly defended him against the likes of Akuma – he was Kenny's best friend, and this was how Julian had repaid his kindness? He tried to think of a thousand excuses for himself, for when the time came that he had to let Ken and Cranky in on the truth, on just how selfish he was.

"There was nothing you could've done …" he tried telling himself for the thousandth time in the last fifteen minutes as he sat in the cell and had some time to think. Somehow, the words weren't having the same effect as they had initially. Julian was sick of lying to himself. He knew better. And he would've gladly joined Wagner unconscious and broken on the ground if it gave Kenny even the slightest chance to make a run for it. He was sick of restraining himself, something the church had taught him to do, as he was the head of his church and a role model for the few Catholics in the Osaka district. But a priest … it wasn't who Julian was. All the sins he had committed in his life – his first murder at sixteen, the pounds of acid he'd dropped, the hordes of women he'd humped and dumped, and most recently, the murder of Cammy's unborn baby … he didn't deserve to be associated with anything holy. And Wagner's relentless pacing in his field of vision was driving him nuts.

"I've had it," he suddenly declared getting to his feet from the sorry excuse for a bench.

"Whoa," Wagner said, putting his hands up, "calm down, Father. I'm sure we can get outta here. We just gotta wait for the right moment."

"Wagner," Julian said, rolling his eyes. "You know I'm not a priest."

"What!" the young airman suddenly gasped. "But the uniform … the rosary …" He was at a loss of words, instead pointing a shaky finger at Julian's garbs.

"Oh, you mean this?" Julian said, dangling the rosary from his finger. "It's not mine." He dropped it on the cold cement floor. "And these clothes," he continued, ripping the black button-up shirt from his chest, popping off the neatly sewn buttons at the same time, "I didn't pay for them either."

Wagner stared with his mouth gaping open at what the good priest had done – at least, that's what he thought of the man until his sudden change of personality. "Father, what are you doing!"

"Don't you recognize me by now?" Julian asked as he stood in a white wife beater and the black pants that once served as a complimentary piece to his holy outfit. With one hand, he grabbed the collar and ripped it from his neck, throwing it down with the shreds of his shirt. "I'm the man that killed your sister's unborn kid!"

Wagner didn't say a word, taking a moment to let the shock sink in. Julian Marquez had supposedly gone into hiding, according to Colonel Wolfman of Delta Red. Wagner was so sure he'd never see the man again, and if he did, he swore to himself that Julian would pay dearly for what he did to Cammy. And to think they hid in the church as a religious leader! Oh, the irony!

The young airman suddenly launch himself at Julian, seizing the Latino man by the shoulders and shoving him against the wall with strength he didn't even know he possessed.

"You have no fucking idea what you put her through!" he spat viciously into Julian's face. "You've ruined her goddamn life! Do you have any idea what kind of bullshit she's been through!" Wagner's face was beet red with rage.

"I didn't know she was expecting!" Julian countered. "And neither did she!" But the comment earned him a solid punch to the cheek, blackening his vision for one painful moment. Julian struggled to regain his balance, but the stars he now saw were blinding him.

"You fucking punted her in the stomach!" Wagner didn't care whether Cammy was pregnant or not. The fact that someone would dare touch her after the torment she'd been through in the years of her life. "You don't do that to a goddamned woman, you slime ball!"

Julian had had enough of this bullshit, viciously sending a back hand and collided with Wagner's temple. "And she left me to rot in jail!" Julian countered. "Cammy's not the innocent little bitch you think she is!"

"Nobody talks that way about her!" Wagner leapt at Julian again, and both men tumbled to the ground, grappling with each other, each man trying to get the other one under him to beat the daylights out of the other.

No more words were exchanged at that point, only grunts of exertion and the dull thud of fists colliding with skulls. Julian landed a blow on Wagner's nose, the other retaliating with a solid punch to his eye. Julian grabbed the young airman by the neck and began simultaneously choking him and slamming the back of his head into the floor. Wagner threw the faux priest off him and landed with an elbow strike to his chest, causing him to spit a spray of blood and saliva into the air.

Both men rolled away, putting enough space between them to gather their strength and to nurse their wounds. They never took their gazes of hatred off one another, each one panting with fatigue, realizing there was no way they could overpower each other in such a confined space. Besides, they were stuck in the same boat.

"You know," Julian was the first to speak, "all we're going to accomplish is killing each other. We don't need that right now."

Wagner realized he was right. If he wanted to get out of this alive, he was going to have to collaborate with Julian, whether he liked it or not. "This doesn't end here," he said, jabbing a finger at Julian's direction.

**XXXXX**

Kenny closed his eyes, squeezing the hot tears out of them, letting them stream down from the corners of his eyes down the sides of his face. This was how it was going to end. The sudden impact of his body colliding with the dirt thousands of feet below was far better than dying slowly if he'd been shot, the bullets opening wounds that would cause him to bleed to death. He stood at the edge of the cliff and one more step was all it took to end it all. He shifted the weight onto his left foot, extending his right to complete the final, fatal step. His heart was threatening to leap out of his throat as he forced a breath in to keep it in as long as possible. But he was suddenly cut off by a voice.

"Kenny, don't do it!"

He froze in his tracks, fearing to turn around, aware that the barrels of the guns were still aimed at him. He was too scared to turn around, yet to scared to even move at the request of the soldier. Yes, that's what it sounded like – a plea, more than an order. The deep voice was filled with compassion.

"What the hell!" cried the other Shadowlaw goon.

Kenny spun around, his curiosity getting the better of him. The sight that greeted him would forever be etched in his mind. One of the soldiers that had led him out here turned his firearm on his comrade, battering his body with bullets, each one sending a ribbon of blood into the crisp mountain air. Kenny threw his body to the ground, covering his head with his arms, shutting his eyes tightly. The deafening roar of gunfire tore at the silence for a few seconds, and died as abruptly as it came, along with the new corpse of one of the Shadowlaw goons.

He looked up at the soldier, breathing heavily as he returned the AK-47 to his side and took off his helmet. The man had long brown hair that reached down to his shoulders, a sharp, squared jaw and a scar running vertically across his right eye. He walked over to the teen, who was still sprawled on the ground with his hands covering his head, staring back with an expression of confusion and fear. The soldier's lips widened to a gentle smile across his face as he extended a hand to help Kenny.

"W…what's going on?" Kenny stammered as he was pulled back onto his feet, his limbs still shaking from the adrenaline.

"Colonel Wolfman," the man said, introducing himself, "Delta Red, Special Forces."


	15. Chapter 11: Mending of Time's Wounds

"Phase one accomplished," Wolfman said gruffly into his walkie-talkie. "The civilian is with me." Kenny was perched on boulder jutting out of the cliff face, his face in his palms, forcing himself to calm down. He had literally been one step away from death. If Wolfman had decided to cry out a split second later, it would've been too late for him, and he'd now be a bloody mess on the forest floor thousands of feet below. The adrenaline was leaving him, but it was painfully slow. He focused on his breathing and kept his eyes shut so nothing would interrupt him.

"The rest of the squad is on their way to pick you up," Wolfman said, turning to him. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'll be okay," Kenny replied. "But you can't stay here. There's another."

"I'm aware," he said, nodding, "two others to be exact. And they're somewhere in that gigantic base." He turned his chin to face the door that led into the compound, with an awe-filled expression on his face.

"I know where they are," Kenny offered.

"You're staying here," Wolfman insisted. "We're not having you in anymore danger than necessary."

"You have more important priorities than keeping me under watch," Kenny pushed. "I am Shadowlaw waste. Now that they think I supposedly died three minutes ago, their attention is off me. Wagner's in there and I don't know what they're gonna do to him. But I know you can't waste anymore time!"

"We wait until the others arrive and get you out of here."

Kenny grunted in frustration and looked away, turning his back to Wolfman. He looked down at the ground below him and suddenly felt the urge to back away from the edge. It was odd. He had a fear of heights, and it was very apparent right now. But minutes ago, he would've gladly taken the plunge when he considered the alternative. It wasn't like he didn't know what it was like to be shot. It happened to him back when he was training in the military establishment of Rockfort Island just a few months ago, making a desperate escape from a mysterious, underground laboratory.

With barely help, he was able to survive a city infested with cannibal murderers, trained intensively for three months on Rockfort, and escape an underground lab in the Antarctic. And now they were afraid of putting him in danger? Kenny figured that if he could handle all that, Shadowlaw must be a cakewalk for him. But why had he allowed himself to be fought over like some possession?

Because they'd given him a painful spinal tap and drugged him up, that's why.

But he wasn't under the influence of any drugs right now. And his mind was certainly clear, albeit a little shaky from his most recent brush with death. Gathering up his nerve, he launched himself off the boulder and sprinted to the door, careful not to lose his footing on the cliff ledge.

"Hold it!" Wolfman ordered, but like the stubborn teenager he was, Kenny didn't listen and forced the Colonel to follow him into the base.

XXXXX

Cammy was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Wolfman contacted her. He had just taken a load off her shoulders with Kenny's rescue, but there was still Wagner and Julian to worry about. The walk back to her hotel suite didn't seem to take very long at long, despite the place being a few blocks from the Osaka Dome, where the preliminary rounds were being held for the newcomers.

She was still dressed in her combat attire – a green sleeveless contraption that might as well have been a one piece bathing suit. Cammy was aware that she might've looked odd prancing down downtown Osaka like that and had brought a trench coat to shield herself from any prying eyes, and to protect herself from the chilly night. But it didn't do anything for her uniform riding up her ass. Cammy winced, reaching the small of her back and tugging the material outward. She was fully convinced that whoever designed that uniform did not have feminine comfort in mind. Besides, her butt cheeks weren't that nice to look at, were they?

She swiped her card into the reader, positioned right beside the door and entered the room. Something smelled good in here. Cammy took another sniff – it smelled like bacon and eggs, and her mouth began to water. It reminded her of the happier times when Guile wouldn't bother waking her and Wagner up. Instead, he'd prefer to let the aroma of his cooking do the job. She remembered sitting around the dining table with Guile, Wagner, and Guile's family, talking and laughing like any American family with the white picket fence, the little dog gobbling up scraps off the floor, and the 2.5 children. Only they had three kids and no dog …

Cammy took another sniff as her stomach growled after a full day of fighting and barely any eating. It was the same smell, but a whole different slew of memories came to her, these ones much more recent. Cranky had offered to cook her breakfast before – and being the emotional wreck she was back then, Cammy was never in the right mind set to enjoy his food, but her stomach told her that she liked it.

Cranky … Cammy was jolted out of her trip down memory lane to the present. Was he still here? But all the lights were off! Did he make her dinner and just leave? Why in the world would he make her dinner after the horrible things she said to him earlier today? She bit her lip, feeling the stab of guilt. Cranky had come to her to tell her the news about Julian when he could've let her find him brainwashed and about to kill her. But she had already known and under her anger at him for cheating on her, decided to turn the conversation around and attack him for not being a real man, reminding him that he was depending on her to get his brother back.

She leaned against the wall with the surge of guilt, growing more intense with every new realization and let herself sink to the ground. How could she be feeling so badly about her actions when just a few hours ago, those same actions had put her in vengeful-bitchiness heaven? Cammy didn't bother turning the lights on and just sat at the doorway of her suite, cradling her belly – the same belly that once held life.

"Cammy?" a familiar voice called from around the corner. She didn't need to hear it again to know who it was. Thank God he hadn't left, that there was someone there to hold her as she went through another emotional attack.

Cranky emerged from the washroom off to the right with a shy smile on his face. "I took care of your place like you told me to…"

He was putting himself to her level. He felt horrible for cheating and it all made sense to her now. It didn't when he first told her – she was too blinded by rage at the time. But now, after a physically testing day, she realized just how much she missed coming home to him.

"Look," Cranky continued, "I want you to know that I'll always be sorry for …"

Cammy threw herself at him, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck and leaned her head against his chest. Cranky's mouth moved – she could feel his jaw against the top of her head – but no words came out. She was glad. She wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to hear from him either, and they both unanimously decided that this loving silence was best.

XXXXX

"Where the hell do you think you're going!" That's what Wolfman wanted to say, but he noticed Kenny quietly sprinting just a few paces in front of him. The key word would've been "quietly." Wolfman decided to honor that possibly smart move and not called out for Kenny to get back here.

The hall that he was being led through was well lit with fish-eye lights set deep into the ceiling, not the cheap fluorescent bulbs he'd imagined them to be. The ground was cement and did a pretty good job of keeping the clicks of his rubber boots down to a minimum.

Wolfman's instincts were telling him to get out of there now. It wasn't wise to proceed on a mission with backup. But Kenny had been so insisting, so urgent, like he expected something to happen to the others right away. If he in fact did, then the youth was more in the loop than Wolfman was.

The only intelligence Delta Red was able to gather was that Shadowlaw was busy kidnapping people for a rumored project, one along the same lines as the infamous Shadow Technology and the Doll Program. The intelligence hit closer to home when it turned out to be a close friend of Cammy's who was taken – ironically enough, the same man that killed her unborn child – Julian Marquez. It hadn't been very long ago when Wolfman suggested they try and hide Julian in the hopes that Shadowlaw would never get to him. But they'd already found him.

"Holy shit!" Kenny cried out, breaking the silence.

"What the matter?" Wolfman asked, catching up. Kenny was positioned in front of a door, his face pressed into a small window set in it.

"This was my cell – where they kept me and Wagner. He's not here anymore."

"Well, who is?"

"Nobody. I don't know what happened after Bison knocked the daylights out of me, but I just assumed they'd take Wagner back to the cell they kept us in."

"This is why we wait for backup and not rush headlong into such dangerous matters," Wolfman said, glaring angrily at Kenny.

XXXXX

"I don't get it, where are you taking me?" Cranky asked, his eyes wide with childish excitement. Cammy kept the smug smile on her face. She couldn't wait to reveal it to him either. The drove along the highway, to a small, residential area on the outskirts of Osaka. Houses here were built in the traditional Japanese style curved, tiled roofs, tatami mats and rice paper walls. They were built fairly close to each other, making any foreigner wonder how they managed to live in such cramped quarters. Cranky had grown up on the streets of downtown Osaka, so even this was a new experience for him. There was more vegetation in the area, giving it a nice country feel. But the question was still nagging at him from the back of his mind – why was Cammy bringing him here?

The rented car pulled up in front of one of those traditionally built houses, nothing about it standing out from the rest of them. A small wall separated them from the property with a wooden gate leading into the garden. And judging from the size of the house as it stood behind the wall, depth perception told Cranky that there wasn't much garden.

Cammy led him to the gate and rang the doorbell. As they waited for someone to tend to them, she looked at him and smiled mischievously. Cranky shook his head.

"Now I can't wait to see what you're all excited about."

An elderly woman approached the couple, her gray hair tied neatly into a bun at the back of her head. She wore a blue summer kimono decorated with an elaborate flower motif. She looked a little surprised to see two tall, light haired, paled skinned individuals, but managed to keep it somewhat subtle.

"Tell her we're looking for a man named Wolfman," Cammy whispered. "Sorry, but you know my Japanese is a little rusty." Cranky smirked, thinking that must've been the understatement of the year.

"Sumimasen," Cranky said in perfectly accentuated Japanese, "bokutachi wa tomodachi ni au yotei desu ga, Wolfman ga irashaimasu ka?"

"Hai!" the woman replied excitedly. "Kochirae douzo!"

Cranky took a step onto the property and looked at Cammy, who returned him a hesitant expression. "She's telling us to come in," he explained. Understanding this, Cammy followed closely behind Cranky. They were led into the small but cozy looking house with the straw mat flooring, the simple yet elegant white walls adorned with limited shelving.

The pair took their shoes off at the entrance and continued further into the house, their host shuffling just ahead of them. She dug her fingers into a random corner of the building and pulled, revealing that the wall was actually a rice paper sliding door. Cammy seemed delighted at seeing such strange contraptions, yet they seemed somewhat functional.

Wolfman was sitting on his knees at a low table drinking from a small teacup resting in his large hands and he looked as if he was having some trouble. Sitting across from him was a Japanese couple. The man had a youthful face, but looked as if he had seen some troubling things in his lifetime. He was dressed in a white karate uniform, ripped at the sleeves, and a scarlet headband wrapped around his head. The woman wore a blue shirt with gold lining, looking like it was from Chinese origin, rather than Japanese. Her hair was tied neatly into two buns, one on each side of her head.

"You called us, Wolfman?" Cammy asked.

"I'm glad you were able to find the place without much hassle," her superior replied. "It's a good thing we have a place to stay, thanks to Interpol's efforts." Wolfman motioned to the woman sitting beside him. "This is Agent Chun Li, from Interpol's Chinese branch. And this man beside her is the champion street fighter, Ryu."

Cranky looked at Ryu and instantly recognized him. Not much about him had changed in the last nine years. His mouth was filled with a bitter taste. It was Ryu that had taken Kenny away from him when they were just kids. It was Ryu that had pursued Cranky down the narrow Osaka alleyways and threatened him to spill the beans on Kenny's childhood – Cranky ended up looking out for him. Cranky didn't want to tell Ryu at the time, afraid that doing so would put his little brother in danger. But now was not the time to start something. Cammy had brought Cranky here for his sake, and he wanted to find out what it was.

"I called Ryu and Chun Li here because apparently, they're on our side," Wolfman explained. "And I've got good reason to believe them. I've just updated them on the situation with Shadowlaw's captured civilians." Upon hearing those words, a smile of relief washed over Ryu and Chun Li's faces. He continued. "And I believe the only one left to tell is you, Mr. Crankurt."

Cranky wasn't sure he wanted to hear what Wolfman had to say. He wasn't giving off any clues as to whether his news was good or bad, until he said, "there's someone I'd like you to meet." Wolfman turned around and called out into the garden outside. "Alright, you can come in now!"

"Thank fucking God," a bitter voice said from the garden. "What the hell kind of hosts are you guys anyway, leaving me out in this heat while you guys sit on your asses and drink fucking tea … HOLY GOD SHIT!"

"Watch your goddamned mouth …" Cranky said wanting to sound stern, but his own relief was too much for him to bear.

"Kenny!"

"Cranky!"

The adoptive brothers collided into an embrace, Cranky ruffling Kenny's hair as his eyes watered. "Don't you ever pull a stunt like that on me again!"

"Sorry, I won't try to get held hostage anymore."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You got a scratch on your cheek. Who's the fucker? Just name him and he's dead."

Cammy sat back with Wolfman, Ryu and Chun Li and watched the reunion with a deep smile of satisfaction on her face. It seemed like the perfect ending for her. She and Cranky had rekindled their love for each other in a wordless conversation, and he had now been reunited with his adoptive brother. They had spent nine years apart and met for only five minutes last week when Shadowlaw took Kenny. But he was back now and Cammy and Cranky were in love – again. A part of her wanted it to remain like this forever. But …

XXXXX

"I'm sorry I couldn't stay you with any longer," Eliza said as she held Ken's hand in hers. "I'll be leaving for home in a few days. I'll be seeing you in a couple of weeks after that anyway, right?"

"As soon as the tournament's over and we accomplish our mission," Ken replied, running his hand through his blond hair. "It would've probably bored you to tears if you stayed. Just get back home and keep an eye on the stocks. I don't want my investments to backfire on me, and I can't make sure they don't and compete in this tournament at once."

"You just focus on finding Kenny and Julian," Eliza insisted. "I'll take care of things on the home front."

"Do you need any help packing?" Ken offered, but she waved it off.

"You know I pack light."

"I also know how you shop."

"Well since you asked," she said with a coy smile on her face, "there are just a few shopping bags in the bedroom that need to be emptied into your suitcase."

"MY suitcase?"

"Oh, honey, you won't be bringing much home, will you? I figured you wouldn't need it and …"

"Just take it!" Ken said, pulling his wife close to him. Since the night Kenny was taken right in front of them, they hadn't had any intimate time together. And now he was determined to squeeze in some romantic time with her, especially when she was about to return to the States in a couple of days.

The moment was ruined – shattered along with the door to their suite as in fell to the carpet in a pile of splinters. The room was suddenly filled with choking smoke that seized their lungs and clouded their vision. Through his coughing fits, Ken could barely hear Eliza crying out for her husband.

"What's going on?" she called through the smoke, her voice panic-ridden.

He tried to answer, but upon opening his mouth, found himself choking on the mysterious gas. Someone grabbed him by the arm – and it wasn't Eliza. The grip was firm, rough, and Ken felt himself single-handedly pulled to his feet with impressive strength.

The smoke was still thick and the facial features of the intruder were vague at best except for the cerulean blue eyes glaring back hatefully at him.

**XXXXX**

"I think I owe you an apology," Ryu said, switching his view between Kenny and Cranky. The brothers sat across the low lying tea table facing him and Chun Li, the latter wearing an apologetic expression reflecting Ryu's words. Cammy and Wolfman sat at either head of the table and watched the conversation with interest. "On behalf of Ken Masters," Ryu continued. "You weren't meant to be dragged into this, Kenny. The memories of the past nine years were supposed to remain a mystery to you. We didn't think it was worth …"

"What happened to me after the explosion at the Mount Fuji Shadowlaw Base?" Kenny interrupted. His voice was stern, with a no-joking tone to it. He had been pursued for the past half year by two completely different organizations, both of them horribly evil, for something inside of him that he didn't understand, didn't want, and didn't remember having. If he was going to be chased across continents then he at least had a right to know why. And he was sick of not knowing.

"We thought you'd died in the explosion," Ryu answered. "We all did – Ken, myself, Guile, Maki, Cody, Guy … everyone. Only Sakura and Chun Li disagreed."

"That's because we saw you," Chun Li continued, "as Sagat was carrying you from the base. You were alive, but not in any shape to walk on your own."

"Sagat dropped you off at Ken's home soon after, with all of us still believing you were dead," Ryu added. "Ken found you alive and well and notified me. But the two of us didn't want to risk alerting Shadowlaw to your continuing existence in fear that it would endanger you again. So we let you go."

"Back to the streets," Kenny said, with bitterness lining his words.

"Ken comes from a prestigious family," Ryu defended. "They are in constant eye of the public, if not because he's running his multi-million dollar business, it's his acting career or his status in martial art competitions. Shadowlaw would've caught on quickly. And Shadowlaw is after me, so you wouldn't have been any safer if I'd taken you under my wing. Ken at least ensured that you had enough money for food and shelter."

""There were some inconsistencies with reports of your existence," Chun Li said, taking a sip from her tea cup. "Officially, you were declared dead, having passed on in the Mt. Fuji explosion. But your activities in America raised the government's curiosities. Your name, age and nationality matched that of the officially deceased Kenneth Feng, and that raises the question of how you got your VISA to the United States."

"I paid my way in," Kenny answered, nonchalantly.

"You don't just pay for a VISA!" she insisted. "You need to have a criminal history check done, your birth certificate must be shown as ID …"

But Chun Li trailed off after she noticed Ryu shaking his head subtly at her. Of course Kenny wouldn't have had to go through the traditional route of getting an overseas VISA. With Ken Master's funding his entire life, there were plenty of people willing to succumb to their own greediness in the form of a bribe.

Cranky elbowed Kenny lightly in the ribs, whispering into his ear, "I've taught you well, you little thief." But Kenny seemed oblivious to the fact that he had done something wrong.

"I'm glad you decided to join us in this fight," Cammy said, changing the subject towards Ryu and Chun Li. "Wolfman says you were sent by Interpol and I'm sure they only send their best. But I hardly think two people are enough to …"

"I'm with Interpol, not him," Chun Li interrupted, pointing at Ryu, "but I'm not on duty right now. I am doing this on my own free will, with the intention of solving Kenny's mystery."

"Since you've got that checked off now, will you be preparing to return home?" Cammy wore a worried expression on her face. She was relieved to know that help had finally come for her to find Julian and Wagner, and now was not the time to have that relief taken away, should Chun Li announce her departure.

"I'm not leaving, not yet," she said. "I've been drawn too far in. This started out as a mission to find Kenny, but I'm so close to getting my hands on Bison …"

"I take it you've got your own problems with the man?" Cammy asked.

"My father," was all Chun Li could say, as she broke eye contact with the other woman. That was all she needed to say for Cammy to understand, having lost her own father, and mother too, to Shadowlaw.

"And you, Ryu?" Cammy asked, directing her attention to the Street Fighter champion. "I don't suppose I have to ask what you're doing here, in your native land, competing in a street fighter competition no less."

"I'm also here on Ken Master's behalf," Ryu replied. "He hasn't had a decent day with his wife since arriving in Osaka, so I'm giving him the opportunity to take some time off. Although, I'm sure finding out that Kenny is alright would've made the trip worth it for him – with Julian missing and all …"

"Although I must ask," Chun Li said, remembering something. "Wolfman has informed us of your intentions to take Shadowlaw down from the inside. That would involve becoming an official participant of the Street Fighter tournament circuit. I haven't seen you around before."

"I'm with the newcomers," Cammy said, "though I'm not sure whether I've been accepted yet or not. If I don't get in, Wagner will …" Cranky took Cammy's hand into his and ran his thumb over the back of her palm soothingly.

The name caught Kenny's attention. "That's the guy that helped me break out of my cell," he said to her. "You know him?"

"He's my brother," Cammy continued, looking sadder and more worried with every word.

"Hey …" Kenny tried comforting her, "he broke us out of our cell, shouldered me as were making our escape, and he took on Bison by himself. Shadowlaw's bitten off more it can chew, I'm sure of it. You should be proud."

Cammy covered her mouth and leaned her head onto Cranky's shoulder, who put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. There was little else he could do. Kenny shot uneasy glances between Ryu, Chun Li and Wolfman. Had he said something wrong?

"She is proud," Wolfman said, nodding his head, "she just misses him, that's all."

**XXXXX**

The sound of crashing glass was all Ken could hear, sharp pains as his skin was pierced by needle thin shards, all he could feel. There was a deep gash over one brow, spilling blood into his eye, temporarily blinding him. Out of his one good eye, he thought he saw Eliza lying face down in the carpet in a pool of her own blood. It was hard to tell – the blood could've been her shadow on the red carpet. He hoped it was.

"Julian, please stop!" Ken begged, but only found himself sailing through the air, landing on the concrete balcony outside. The glass door had broken awhile go, when Julian had first attacked Ken without him expecting it. He landed in a pile of tempered glass. It hurt like hell, having those little cubes cut into him, but it was better than having razor shards open larger, deeper wounds.

Either Julian couldn't hear Ken, blinded by some mysterious rage that hid behind his eyes, or he was completely ignoring the man. Aside from the fear Ken felt for Eliza, he was confused as to why Julian would be doing this, of all people. He was the heir to a notorious Latino mob, Ken knew that – but that was back in the States. What in the world would they be doing in Japan? Secondly even if the Latin Kings had managed to expand their illegal dealings over the Pacific, Ken knew Julian would never intentionally hurt him. The two had worked together, busting Cammy out of Shadowlaw headquarters almost a decade ago. They were soldiers, friends, brothers in arms, why would Julian be attacking him after seven odd years of no contact?

Ken forced himself to standup as he felt Julian approach and put his hands up, as if he were surrendering. "Please, Julian, tell me what's going on at least, if you want to continue this." Julian responded with a sharp back fist, throwing Ken's upper body over the edge of the balcony. The realization that he planned on throwing Ken over the edge created a surge of panic in him. He didn't want to hurt Julian, but right now, there was no choice. If he chose to keep back and not attack his friend, his life would end.

Ken's hands gripped the railing, trying to keel his centre of gravity from going over the edge. Pushing the strength in his arms, he pushed himself back through the door, nearly tripping over the frame and launched his body into an uppercut so powerful, his feet left the ground. Julian reared his head back in an attempt to avoid the strike but Ken had begun the move lower that he'd anticipated, catching Julian in the ribs, throwing the large man up towards the ceiling.

"Something's wrong with him," Ken said to himself, noticing Julian's reaction to being struck. Come to think of it, the man hadn't spoken a word since breaking into the suite. He didn't even grunt in effort as he knocked Ken and Eliza around like toys, and didn't cry in pain as Ken retaliated and struck him back. He was more violent that Ken remembered, but what struck him most were the eyes. They weren't angry, nor were they sad or happy. They were so … indifferent. And that was definitely not the Julian that Ken remembered. The man he'd met in the Shadowlaw army back then was a brilliant boy, a few years older than him with a deep seeded hatred for his father and his surroundings, a pessimistic outlook on life, but heart of gold.

Julian seized Ken by the collars and lifted him up into the air, letting him take a good look into Julian's eyes, before casting him off, throwing him against the wall, smashing a framed picture up on the wall. Just before Ken's body hit the carpeted floor, he could've sworn he heard a distant, far off ringing. He attributed it to his head spinning after eating wall and floor so many times.

**XXXXX**

"That's odd," Ryu said with furrowed brows as he listened intently into the cell phone. After taking so long to figure out how the little mechanical device worked, he'd be damned if Ken wasn't home to pick up the call. The only thing that could make Ken's private day with Eliza would be the good news of Kenny's safety.

As he waited for an answer, he gazed at his own reflection in the pond in front of him. His face still had the glow of rugged youthfulness, though the few lines he had were pretty deep. Looking at his chin, he noticed a few hairs of a beard poking out. He would need a shave soon. Just beyond his reflection, he could see the orange, red and white bodies of carp swimming contentedly through the water. He never understood how the creatures could live in such close quarters with one another. Being a wanderer his whole life, Ryu never fully developed a true understanding of companionship, except with Ken Masters.

An awful, chemical stench assaulted Ryu's smell, forcing him to cough violently once. Staring across the shallow pond, he spotted Kenny lying flat on his back, his knees bent and pointing skywards. From Kenny's mouth, Ryu could see a plume of white smoke rise and disperse into the humid air. Kenny shook his bare foot to a silent beat, and hummed along to a silent song – and was very off key, whatever the song was. The youth's eyes were closed and there was a smile of complete satisfaction in his face as he brought the cigarette to his mouth and took another puff.

"Kenny," Ryu called out in Japanese, "I don't think this is the most appropriate place to be doing that."

"Did you know," Kenny replied without even opening his eyes or even turning to face Ryu, "around forty eight percent of the Japanese population smoke? Have you ever been to the train stations in the city? Down there, they have a glass cage for non-smokers while the rest of us get the whole world to exhale to."

"We're not in public," Ryu said.

"I've asked the grandmother of the household, and she said it was alright as long as I disposed of the butt appropriately. And why in the world are you speaking Japanese? We're in the company of foreigners. It's rude."

"To save you from embarrassment," Ryu replied, switching to English, "of me having to lecture you in front of the good Colonel about manners while other people are playing host to you."

"And what makes you think you're in the position to be lecturing me?" Kenny challenged. But Ryu's composure never faltered. He opened his mouth to speak, but was promptly interrupted as Cranky approached the Shotokan master, clapping a hand onto his shoulder.

"Is he giving you a hard time?" Cranky asked.

"Hardly," Ryu replied with a smirk.

Cranky walked around the pond to where Kenny sat on the grass, reached down and pulled the cigarette from between the youth's fingers and stomped on it.

"What the hell …?"

"These are the people who went far out of their way to get you to safety, Kenny," Cranky whispered harshly. "And I'm not going to tolerate you disrespecting them like this." He held up the cigarette butt inches from Kenny's nose. "Now get rid of this … PROPERLY."

Kenny scowled and took the butt from Cranky's fingers and stormed off, muttering curses under his breath. Ryu watched him pass, mentally shaking his head.

"I must apologize on his behalf," Cranky explained to Ryu, finding a spot close to where Kenny sat up to a few moments ago. "He means no harm and … I was the one who taught him to not take shit from anybody. That was a few years ago, though, back when we were still on the streets. Things have changed since then, but his attitude hasn't."

"From what I gather, he has a tough time respecting anyone," Ryu noted. "But I also notice he doesn't talk back to you."

"He wouldn't dare."

"I'm impressed with what you've done to him."

"You're impressed that I helped raise that?" Cranky laughed, jokingly. "If that's what you think I did, then I don't want to have anything to do with the brat!"

"Oh no …" Ryu said, staring down at the cell phone that lay in the grass beside him. "I don't think I turned this device off!" He scooped the phone up in one hand and began frantically pressing buttons, and holding it up to his ear.

"Is there someone on the other end!" Cranky asked.

Ryu's expression faded to a worried stare. "It sounds like a battle going on …"


	16. Chapter 12: Downtown Trouble

"So …" Kenny couldn't quite believe it. This simple looking girl had reunited him with the only guardian he ever had in his life. She sat beside him on the stairs outside that led straight into the house. Cammy … that's what she called herself. Kenny had never heard of a name quite like it, until she explained that it was short for Camilla.

"It was no problem for me, really," she had said. "Cranky's mentioned you a few times before – I know what it's like to have a sibling, but I've never known what it was like to lose one. And Cranky thought he lost you. I felt like I had to do something to help him."

"I can't believe he actually thought I was dead. Everyone thought so." Kenny stared down at his feet, that dangled inches above the ground from the porch. "And you know what's more unbelievable … until Cranky showed up in Raccoon City, I didn't even know he existed."

Cammy nodded, understanding everything. "Memory wipe. Shadowlaw has a tendency to do that to its subjects."

"How do you …?"

"I used to work for them," she explained, "a really long time ago and did the same thing to me. They took me hostage, screwed me up in unimaginable ways … kinda like what they did to you. I was the first subject of the Doll Program. Shadowlaw took me and killed my family. They did the same thing to Wagner."

"And to me …" Kenny whispered in a barely audible tone. This corporation had a way with ruining lives, and they were good at it, it seemed. Kenny had always felt sorry for himself, like the world was against him, having his family taken from him when he was just a child, having gone through two memory wipes – one just before Cranky first found him half dead on the streets, and the other shortly proceeding the Mount Fuji explosion. But his troubles were just an item on Shadowlaw's list of ruined lives. It was overwhelming.

"I was the first Shadowlaw Doll, and you were the first Shadow Soldier," Cammy said. "Here we are, the icons of two of that company's technological advances now fighting against them. How ironic."

"Cammy …" Kenny said, looking into her eyes like he had a million words to say. She looked back into his and gave him a sweet half smile. Without warning, he leaned into her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and neck, pulling her gently into a hug.

"H…hey," she said, noticing his shoulder bob up and down with sobs, "what's wrong?" She rubbed her hand soothingly across his back, hoping to calm him.

"Nine goddamn years of looking out for myself," he replied, "that's what's wrong - with nobody to tell me who I was or where I came from … nobody to understand the kind of shit that followed me from place to place, no matter where I went, not knowing if there were people out there who gave two shits whether I was dead or alive. Nine fucking years of not knowing …"

And then she understood. Cammy had been through a severe case of amnesia herself, but she had people by her side, people to support her. Guile and Wagner were her pillar of strength as she came to terms with what she did under Shadowlaw's command. They were there to stop her from mixing in with the wrong crowd, to keep her on the right path, and even saved her from committing suicide. But Kenny's amnesia was more permanent, without any catalysts to get his memory going again. She couldn't imagine going through that kind of suffering, wondering night after night if there were people wondering if he was okay, if he had a set of parents, or at least someone to support him.

"But you always knew that Ken Masters cared enough to help you out, right?" Cammy offered, hoping something would make him feel better.

"I didn't even know his first name was Ken," Kenny replied. "I only knew him as Mr. Masters. Sure, the money helped, but that's all it was. Money."

"I can imagine how that must feel …"

"Sorry," Kenny apologized, pulling himself away. "That was probably a little uncalled for cause … we never really met and all. It's just that I never thought anybody else could even begin to grasp what it was like."

"You're not alone. You never were, either. The only difference between you and me is I knew who was responsible for fucking me over."

"And I guess I just wanted to thank you," he continued. "Had Cranky not come to Raccoon, I would probably be wandering the globe like I have been for the last couple of years, nowhere closer to discovering my past. But since coming back here, I learned there are people who actually give two shits about my well being – they actually want me alive. Chun Li, Uncle Ken, Ryu, Cranky … and it's because of you that I know. It was you that sent Cranky after me."

"Like I said," she continued, "it was no problem for me to do it. I knew you were his brother – blood relation notwithstanding. I ran across a few files mentioning a certain "Kenneth Feng" that I found odd since you were supposed to have died. So I did a little research and discovered that you were actually … you. And I knew Cranky would flip. Besides, I love Cr…" Cammy bit her lip. But she'd said enough for Kenny to understand.

"You have got to be fucking around!"

"Actually, we …" Cammy was starting to turn red.

"Aw, GROSS! I meant you must've been joking! But you mean you two … he … you … aw, that's the last thing I wanted to know!"

"Maybe this was a mistake," Cammy said nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well did you at least use protection?"

"Umm … not exactly …"

"He got you pregnant!"

"Kenny, please …"

"Are you serious!"

"Kenny, be quiet, please! Cranky doesn't know about this."

"But how long are you going to hide it from him? I mean, after seven months, you can deny it all you like but your protruding belly button will be crying out for some attention."

"It won't happen. I had a miscarriage."

"Oh …" There was a brief moment of silence, each person wondering what to say next. "You still haven't told Cranky about the miscarriage? Won't he be … uh … mad?"

"He would blame me for losing it, I know that much. But whatever the case, please promise me you won't utter a word to him about this."

"Geez … that's a pretty gutsy thing to do. But ok, you have my word. I won't tell him anything."

Their intimate conversation was suddenly interrupted with a very panicked Ryu practically bursting through the screen door, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Ken's in trouble," he announced. "We have to get going, now!"

**XXXXX**

For the next few minutes, no words exchanged, except for the few sentences that notified Wolfman and the others of Ken's situation. The colonel led the way to his parked vehicle just on the sidewalk, cooking in the late afternoon heat. Cammy and Cranky ran to their rented car, the former extracting her battle gear with shaky hands from the trunk consisting of orange fighting gloves and a scarlet beret.

It had been years since Cammy had last seen Ken. He came back into her life professing his love for her, only to find out that he was married when he'd told her that. It had taken Cammy awhile to get over the guy. She was just a teenager when she fell in love with him, and he was her first serious relationship, despite Guile's disapproval of the young man. But that was a good few years ago and Cammy had left Ken and the memories of him to gather dust. And now, with Cranky in her life, it was that much easier for her to leave it that way.

This was the last thing she expected. One minute they're talking about Shadowlaw and ways to get Wagner and Julian back from them. And the next, she finds out her first love that she hadn't spoken to in years is in trouble. And even more surprising, everyone seems to know him! There was no time for Cammy to express her confusion as she just found herself running through the house, nearly crashing through the delicate paper walls, dashing towards the front of the house and to the car.

Up in the car ahead, Ryu scrambled into the passenger seat, sweat pouring from his brows. Chun Li climbed in after him, shutting the door behind her just in time to close off access to the vehicle from Kenny, who was tagging along a few paces behind.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" he asked.

"We're going after your Uncle Ken," Chun Li replied, rolling the window down as Wolfman started up the car. "He needs our help right now, and you're staying here where it's safe."

"Oh, I don't fucking think so!" Kenny protested.

"We don't have time to argue about this." Kenny wasn't given an opportunity to say anything back. Wolfman pulled the car away from the curb and zoomed down the street, leaving Kenny angry and confused, in a cloud of dust.

"You guys aren't gonna play along with this stupid game, are you?" Kenny called out to Cranky and Cammy, who we just speeding off now.

"It's for the best," Cammy explained as they vanished into the distance.

Kenny was shocked, to say the least, that they had the audacity to just leave him here. He stood at the sidewalk, wondering where the last five minutes had disappeared to. It had all gone by so quickly and it seemed like he was the only one who didn't know what was going on.

He spent his whole life living on his own, feeding, bathing and clothing himself with the money his Uncle Ken gave him. For the last nine years he had only himself to rely on. He survived being pursued all by himself. And now that he was in safe, Special Forces hands, they were treating him like a child. Kenny was well aware that people his age normally went through this stage where they want to be treated like real adults. But in most cases, that's all they were – teenagers, taking everything they have for granted, talking back and rebelling to the parents that provide everything for them.

But Kenny never had any of those luxuries, or parents to tell him the difference between right and wrong. All he had was Cranky. His growing up was based almost purely on his own experiences and close brushes with death. After being absent from his life for so long, who did Ryu, Chun Li and Cranky think they were to suddenly decide what was too dangerous for him after everything he went through? Off all the sixteen year olds in the world, Kenny was the least deserving of the childish, rebellious teenager label everyone else was tacking on him.

Well he knew he could handle himself in a proper fight. The only reason he couldn't back at the Shadowlaw base was because he was still under the influence of whatever they drugged him with. But this was a different story. His mind was clear and his wounds had more or less recovered. He'd handled monsters from the moon, an American most wanted criminal the "Red Dragon" also known as Jake Cavanaugh, a zombie infested city … a few Shadowlaw agents would be a walk in the park. He knew the Street Fighters normally stayed in one of the hotels flanking the Osaka dome, and that was most likely where Uncle Ken was staying, and where the others were headed. It was too far to walk, but a taxi would work just as well. But where was he going to get the money?

There was a middle aged woman approaching, thick layers of makeup on her face in a failed attempt to cover up some facial wrinkles. She wore a business shirt and a knee length gray skirt, handbag slung over her right shoulder. Handbags were the easiest steal things from as they were kept away from the owner's body. It was a lot harder, Kenny guessed, for someone to feel a hand going through their bag than it would be their pocket.

"Sumimasen, obasan," he said, approaching the woman. "Ima wa nanji desu ka?" The time – it was always best to ask for the time. The victim would sometimes crane their neck, but always focus their attention on a watch or cell phone.

"Let's see …" the woman said, focusing on her watch. Kenny leaned just a little, pretending he was trying to see her watch right side up, as she twisted her wrist to help him get a better look. Their shoulders were almost touching as he slipped his hand quietly in the handbag, and pulled out the thickest foldable object he could find. "It's about five thirty in the evening."

"Well, thank you!" he said with a cheerful smile, his left hand behind his back. The woman looked over her shoulder as she walked away and nodded in acknowledgement. Kenny headed in the opposite direction and began inspecting his loot. It was a nice tanned wallet that looked like it was made from alligator skin. Opening it up, he found forty thousand yen in bills, and another five hundred in coinage. It was the equivalent of around forty American dollars, which wasn't bad at all. Heading out of the quaint neighborhood and onto the main street, Kenny kept his eye out for a cab to wave down.

**XXXXX**

Ryu crashed through the door leading to Ken's suite, despite Wolfman demanding that he calmed down. Ryu wasn't going to listen to some man he'd known for a few minutes to save the life of the man he'd developed a brotherhood with since the two of them were kids. Chun Li seemed to understand this as despite being a well respected official, she didn't call for him to stop. Either that or Chun Li wasn't entirely sure she could stop Ryu even if she tried.

Cammy and Cranky, having arrived just a few seconds later than the others were trailing behind by a few meters. Cranky looked at Cammy as the both of them sprinted through the hallway, her wide eyes worried and teary. That look of concern told Cranky everything. Ken Masters meant something to her. And that something was very intense – though he wasn't sure what kind of a bond existed between them, if any.

She'd worn that expression since they zoomed off in the car, leaving Kenny by the curb. He'd rubbed her shoulder on the way over, trying to convince her that everything would be alright. If this Ken Masters was the very same one Cranky remembered from nine years ago, then he would have absolutely no problem taking care of himself. Then again, this was Shadowlaw they were dealing with, and he suddenly found himself sympathizing with Cammy.

Ken's suite stunk with the odor of chemicals and a strange smoky substance lingered in the air, not enough to maim the visibility though. Ryu looked around the corner towards the kitchen – the sight was clear. To his right was a short corridor leading to one washroom and a bedroom – nobody was in there either. Further up ahead from the entrance, he could see that a battle had taken place. The luxurious sofa was a mess – the leather casing ripped, its foam contents littering the carpeted floor. The television set lay face down, shards of its once proud screen pointing skyward, threatening to stab into anything that would dare bear its weight downward.

"Ken!" Out on the balcony, cradling the limp body of a beautiful blonde woman was Ryu's childhood friend, his bare arms and face bleeding from multiple cuts, probably from the glass. He had his face pressed down into the woman's shoulder, who Ryu recognized as Eliza, Ken's wife, and his shoulders were shaking with repressed sobs.

Ryu approached Ken slowly, careful to avoid stepping on any large chunks of glass. He went down on one knee, putting his hand on Ken's shoulder and asked softly, "Are you okay?"

Ken looked up at his friend with a tear streak face. "S…she's not waking up," Ken said. Ryu took a look at Eliza, with her eyes closed peacefully as if she were asleep. A quick scan of her body revealed no blood – except for the droplets spattered on her white dress which looked like they came from Ken.

"She looks alright," Ryu noted, "but you should take a look at yourself. I think you might be more hurt than…"

"No!" Ken protested, cutting his friend off. "She took a hit during the fight, but I didn't see it."

"And it looks like you took a thousand more," Ryu continued. "I'll get Chun Li and Cammy to look after Cammy but we have you get to you a hospital."

"C…Cammy?" Ken asked, composing himself suddenly.

"Yes, Ken," she said, stepping into view from the doorway, "I'm here."

**XXXXX**

It had been hell trying to pinpoint Chun Li's location. Yun had to get clearance at Interpol's headquarters and get confirmation from Chun Li's closest co-workers as to who he was and if he was a threat to her safety. Fortunately, a few of them seemed to recognize him – and apparently she'd talked about him and Yang a few times too. Yun and Yang never got a chance to get to know Chun Li at a more intimate level, but they were different generations of Master Gen's students. It was nice to know she still cared about the old man, and the students of his that she never met. But now Yun wanted to meet her and he had to make up a little fib that he always looked up to the woman like a big sister.

After realizing who he was, the folks at the Hong Kong Interpol branch didn't seem to have any trouble spilling the beans on what Chun Li was up to. Had she been on official business, it would've been a lot harder to attain that information, regardless of who he was.

Yun now walked down a rural Osaka street, watching the small tile roof houses pass him by, looking for the address scribbled down on a piece of paper by one of Chun Li's co-workers. The sun was beginning to set in the early evening, as a gentle breeze swept through the baked environment, cooling the sweat on his skin. Yun removed his blue baseball cap with one hand and wiped at the sweat on his forehead with the other. He'd always wanted to come to Japan on a nice visit, but not under these circumstances.

And speaking of which, there was a distressed woman just a few feet away, digging through her handbag. She was sitting on the sidewalk, mumbling urgently to herself. Yun had to snicker at the badly applied make up until he got closer and realized it had been smeared all over her face from crying. He dashed valiantly over to where he sat and squatted down to meet her at eye level.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked, his voice full of concern. His Japanese was a little rusty, but he figured the lady could understand him.

"M…my purse," she sobbed, "it had everything in it – my money, my keys, government ID ... And I think it got stolen!"

"Have you reported it to the police?"

"I only noticed it was gone a few minutes ago …" she continued, "it must've been that boy who took it. I thought he was standing a little too close for a stranger …"

Yun felt his sympathetic smile harden into a grim frown. Master Gen had warned him about such people – kids who purposely made wrong decisions in their life and forced others to live with the burden of their decisions. And these people apparently weren't exclusive to Hong Kong.

"Which way did he go?" Yun asked the lady.

"Towards the main street," she replied, pointing further ahead. "I don't know if you can catch him, but I'll tell you what he looked like. He had a scratch on his cheek, as if he had just gotten into a fight. Short hair, cut and styled like an American, jet black and not dyed." She ran her hands over her head to provide a vague visual of what he looked like.

"Thanks," Yun said. "You just wait here, I'm going to find this guy for you."

"He might be long gone."

"He's five minutes away. I think I can catch up." With a smug smile on his face, Yun turned his back on the lady and sprinted down the street. He put his baseball cap back onto his head and pumped his arms faster as he ran. Yun hoped that the kid who stole the purse was still there, probably waiting for his ride or was heading back home to his alley. Yun had decided he would show no mercy. It was petty robbers and thieves that had taken the lives of his parents, putting the burden on raising Yun and his brother in Master Gen's hands. It wasn't until the brothers had grown up some more that they realized Gen had taken them under his wing without complaining and if he ever regretted it, he never showed it. Yun hadn't even gotten a chance to thank Master Gen for everything he did for them before his life was taken so suddenly. Yun life and circumstances were practically dictated by the actions of criminals. But now that he was alone, forced to live life without a mentor, he vowed to take down these people so they could never hurt anyone else again. And it would all start with this thief.

**XXXXX**

"I've called for an ambulance," Chun Li informed, hanging up the phone and placing it back on the dresser where it originally was before they found it off the hook and beeping like there was no tomorrow. "I've checked for any sign of damage on Eliza, as instructed by the operator, but I can't find anything wrong with her. It looks like she's just in shock from the sudden attack."

"That's good to hear," Ken said, wrapping a blanket around himself as he sat at the dining table, having been recently cleared of the remains of a once proud flower vase. "So Cammy," he said, turning his attention to the other woman who was once so important to him in his life. "What brings you about?"

She sat across the table from him, her arms folded as she looked downward, desperate to avoid eye contact with him. It had been so long since they last spoke, and they hadn't left on the best of terms. She had been so eager to come and see him and now that he was here, right in front of her, she couldn't find the right words to say to make this reunion perfect.

"I came to see you." Shit! She bit her lip – that was definitely far from perfect. Cammy would've liked to settle for a "fuck you, you cheating liar," but realized the same could've been said about Cranky. Ken had told Cammy so long ago that he loved her – and conveniently failed to mention his WIFE! The same woman that he held minutes ago in his arms, sobbing over her unconscious body. If he truly loved Eliza and cared about her so much, why in the world would he go back to her all those years ago? No … Cammy forced herself out of this hormone driven rage. She was aware this was a long time ago, when she was in a different phase in her life. She thought she left those feelings far behind but seeing Ken helped them back out again – not something she had anticipated. And Ken, he had been younger too, a mere boy as much as Cammy had been a little girl. No doubt he had grown up into a man since they'd last met.

"Still having trouble getting this handsome face outta your mind, eh?" Ken asked with that cocky smile that Cammy used to melt for. But now she felt nothing but anger and had half a mind to put a permanent hand print on his face.

"We have no time for personal talk," Chun Li said, coming between the two of them. "Somebody attacked you, Ken. And no doubt Shadowlaw is behind this. You must give us a description of this character, and any other useful aspects you might have noticed. Anything unusual?"

"Yeah," Ken said, shooting a glance at Cammy. "It was Julian."

**XXXXX**

Cammy's blue eyes went wide as she tried to understand what Ken had just told her. But to her, it was impossible to understand. Of all the people to break in here like this and attack Ken and his wife this viciously … Julian would be the last one on earth! She looked around at the damage done to the hotel suite. Julian was certainly strong enough to do this much damage, alright. But perhaps Ken was mistaken? There was just no way …

"I know," Ken said, as if reading her thoughts, "I couldn't believe it either when he first showed up. I was so happy to see him, but then he did this …"

"Ken, are you sure?"

Ken nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line on his face, "there's not a doubt in my mind. It's been a few years since I've seen him – but that was him."

"Then you need to give us as much information on this individual as possible," Chun Li said, interrupting their conversation with her stone cold voice. "What ties does he have to Shadowlaw?"

"None," Ken replied. "In fact, he hates those bastards."

"Perhaps you were misinformed?"

"No!" Ken insisted. "I went through hell with Julian. And if I know anything about the man, it's his hatred for Shadowlaw."

"That doesn't explain his willingness to work for them – and what he just did to you."

"I may have an answer," Cammy piped up reluctantly, raising her hand. "It might sound a little far-fetched initially, but considering Shadowlaw, it just might make sense."

"There is nothing far-fetched about Shadowlaw," Chun Li said, "I know no limits to their sadism. So then, out with it."

"Julian might have been brainwashed."

"That's ridiculous!" Ken cried. "This is real life, Cammy, not some science fiction novel!"

"Really? Is what they did to me ten years ago all fiction to you?" Ken was silenced, but Cammy didn't take any time to savor her minor victory. She returned her attention to Chun Li. "It's the most likely scenario I can think of."

"I don't get it," the Interpol Detective said, rubbing her chin in deep thought. "I know Shadowlaw has performed brain washing before. But I thought such technology was only reserved for individuals with exceptional performance abilities. I mean, that's the whole point of the Street Fighter tournament, isn't it? To find warriors powerful enough for Shadowlaw's terrorist acts?"

"Yes," Cammy continued, "They've done it to me and twelve other girls they deemed worth of their Doll Program. And you probably remember when you were under the influence of the Shadow Technology, Detective." Chun Li nodded. "And I don't think Julian is an exception."

"I don't know how good of a warrior he is," Chun Li said, "but what I want to know is how they deemed him worthy of going through the trouble to brainwash him when he wasn't even in the Street Fighter circuit. Let's not just assume that your suggestion is the answer. I want to look into this more before making any judgment calls."

"Whatever happened to Julian, it definitely wasn't him who walked in here," Ken mumbled.

"But you just said …"

"I mean, physically, yeah, it was him. But the way he acted – it wasn't! He had these cold, emotionless eyes, like he didn't care he could've killed two people, let alone me and Eliza."

"He's killed before, Ken," Cammy said softly.

"Not unless he had no choice."

"Well just recently he kill my ba…" she clamped her mouth shut, realizing it had almost slipped out. This was the second time she'd made that mistake, letting someone know about miscarriage. It felt so good to let out, but she realized that doing it too often would eventually cause the word to get back to Cranky. And she'd already been stupid enough to leak it to Kenny, Cranky's brother who was close to him, of all people!

"What did he do to you, Cammy?"

"Nothing, just forget about it," she said, waving him off with her hand and a stern tone. Ken decided not to pursue the matter.

"Regardless of what Julian's motives were," Chun Li said, "there's no denying the fact that he came here and attacked you and your wife. Your fortune and your talents have made you a famous man, Mr. Masters. You travel all over the world with your beautiful wife. I can think of a number of groups who would like a piece of what you've got. Shadowlaw just happens to be the only organization capable of taking it. There's no telling what they're up to and how they Julian to do what he did. But we need to get to the bottom of this."

XXXXX

Kenny had no idea what had hit him at first. He was walking along the street, checking out the stash of money he'd found in the wallet, digging thoroughly through any hidden pockets of the purse to make sure he hadn't missed anything. Aside from a few credit cards, membership cards and receipts, forty five hundred yen was all he was able to find.

He passed a metal mesh garbage can and paused – wondering if it was right to discard the rest of the wallet's contents. Cranky had taught him to discard everything but the cash, but Kenny never felt right about it. After all, these pieces of plastic represented who the victim was – with names, homes and lives, more than just their financial situation. As a thief, they were completely worthless to Kenny, but he had always been certain that if the money was gone, at least they had their identity returned to them. Having his own credit card supplied by Mr. Masters also helped him come to this realization. And he vowed never to discard somebody's ID again. He now realized the danger of leaving one's identity out for the world to see.

Kenny had the purse in his hand, open for his prying eyes. He looked at the mouth of the garbage can, looking at the flies circling the rim, licking up the remains of dried coffee and juice, and pocketed the wallet. He should've taken some money out from the bank machines from his own account. But thievery so was much more convenient.

"Nothing I can do about it now," he said to himself. "I'll just make sure to return this when I've got the time."

Then something collided with his cheek, sending him towards the pavement at dangerous speeds. Kenny tucked into a shoulder roll, cushioning the impact, but held the side of his face with one hand. He could barely see out of one eye as it stung so badly, his tears were blocking his vision. Out of his good eye, he could see a young man, around his age, looking very angry with a hand curled into a vicious fist.

"Who the hell …?" he asked, but the other youth gave no reply and jumped towards him, ready to kick out his leg to strike Kenny in the face.

Kenny dodged again and collided with the garbage can, nearly knocking the thing over. As the other youth landed from his failed strike, Kenny threw himself onto his back, wrapping his arms around his head in a sleeper hold. The assailant elbowed him one, two, three times in the ribs, forcing Kenny to let go. Before he could recover from the rib blows, the boy threw a right hook into Kenny's face, but was successfully blocked by a single arm.

"So that's how you like to fight!" Kenny spat blood as he spoke. "Attacking people with their backs turned!" He launched into a side kick, catching the other boy just under the chin. Kenny thought his opponent would've been thrown off balance by the force behind the strike, but expertly caught himself in mid-air and landed softly, hinting at some form of long term martial arts training.

"Someone who picks on old ladies deserves no better!" The youth ran towards him again, fists out by the sides of his body, ready to be used if Kenny chose to retaliate. Kenny tried remembering the survival skills he'd learned off Cranky. If the opponent was larger and stronger than you, there was no use wasting energy fighting when that energy could be used to escape.

Looking at this strange boy, he looked to be Kenny's age and size, with a little more bulk. He couldn't have been more than thirty pounds heavier – and Kenny could handle thirty extra pounds. But perhaps it would've been better to escape? The answer was quick. No. This guy had a runner's build and would likely catch him quickly, especially with Kenny's smoker endurance. There was no choice but to engage in battle.

"And who the hell do you think you are!" Kenny shouted, running at the other boy. The both of them looked like they were about to fight to the death, running at full speeds towards each other, both boys with aggression written all over their faces, their tense bodies, the perspiration running down their faces. Kenny was the first to jump, turning his body in the air, head over heels, aligning his body so that it was parallel to the ground.

He shot out his feet and used his heels as a vice grip, grabbing the boy 's neck with his heels. Using the momentum gained from the jump, Kenny used that energy to help turn his body into a mid-air roll, flipping the other boy upside down, sending him into the ground head first.

But his opponent had impressive reflexes, cushioning his fall with his palms before his head could hit the pavement. He bounced off his arms and landed on his feet with Kenny absolutely floored that someone had neutralized his scissor throw.

"Not bad," the boy said, "but you have no idea who you're messing with."

"You boy scouts are a joke," Kenny scoffed.

"The name's Yun," he said with a smug smirk, "one half of the Twin Dragons."

"What is that, some kind of junior hockey team?"

"I'll show you junior!"

Yun threw a left hook this time, one that Kenny deflected with his right forearm. Yun had expected such retaliation and drove his right knee into Kenny's midsection, causing him to double over. Yun grasped one fist with his other and prepared for a double fisted overhead smash aimed for between Kenny's shoulder blades as he fought to catch his breath.

But Kenny would have none of it. Yun's reflexes were impressive but Kenny's own fighting had been refined after years on the streets, lashing out with a right hook to Yun's chest, a spinning back fist to his cheek, and a devastating uppercut to his jaw for a three hit combination attack.

"And apparently, you don't know just who you're dealing with, either!" Kenny shouted, the testosterone pumping through his system. "I've lived through everything from petty thieves," a sharp kick to Yun's side as he lay on the ground, "to the Raccoon disaster," another kick, "and to Shadowlaw!" He finished with a kick to Yun's head who was barely able to stop the strike.

"What the hell's going on!" someone yelled. Kenny looked up and saw that a few vehicles had slowed down on the side of the road, even stopped to watch the fight unfold. It just occurred to him that his little commotion with Yun had attracted a lot of attention. He had no idea who had been watching, what they saw, and for how long, but it was likely that someone had called the authorities by now. He looked around nervously, and back at Yun who had already picked himself off the ground, looking just as lost and confused as Kenny was, and the pair decided to split.

**XXXXX**

Cranky was leaned back in a nice wicker chair on the hotel restaurant's patio. He was thankful for the brief chance of peace as he stared at the sun, the bottom of the orb just dipping below a distant mountain chain. He'd excused himself from Ken's suite as Chun Li sat Cammy and Ken down and prepared for an investigation. There wasn't much left for him to do after the paramedics wheeled Ken's wife over to the hospital. Besides, he had the feeling there were some things Cammy and her childhood sweetheart needed to talk about and more than ever, he wanted to be out of the awkward situation. She was his now, and that was all that mattered.

And then Juli walked by.

They made eye contact, recognizing each other in the same instant. Cranky could feel his face betray him as it lit up into a beaming smile. He couldn't help it – he was genuinely happy to see her, even after what he did. But she had a much different reaction. Her deep brown eyes broke their contact with his, looking down at the pavement beneath her high heels trying to hide the sad look on her face, but Cranky noticed it.

"Juli, wait," he said, but that only caused her to walk faster. She left him no choice. He leapt out of the chair, off the patio and onto the lush green grass to catch up to her. He grabbed her by the elbow and with a little force, turned her around to face him. "I have a lot of explaining to do."

"Don't bother," she said softly.

"Well I want to."

"I don't want to listen."

"That's a lie."

She finally looked at him in the eye, but with a hateful glare Cranky never thought a sweet, quiet girl like Juli was capable of producing.

"We were objects, Cranky," Juli said, "Cammy and I. Empty shells made of flesh and bone used to serve a sadistic human being who sincerely believed he was some kind of deity. After the Doll Program's termination, we were set free to rebuild out lives and my God, it was a difficult process. I'm so happy to see that you can appreciate her for the woman she is. But me … I might as well have still been a doll as far as you're concerned. And don't even think for a second I'm going to let someone be another Lord Bison to me."

"It was a mistake!" Cranky insisted. He had never felt this low in his life, not even when he was just a teenager stealing money from old ladies. Juli spoke with such intensity, such genuine pain. She wasn't yelling at him like Cammy had been. At least with her, he knew he was getting the punishment he deserved. But Juli was extremely hurt on an emotional level, so much that it sucked all the strength out of her physically, and he could see it all in the reserved way she stood, rarely looking at him, holding herself in her arms – like she was afraid he would hurt her even more he elaborated on his motivations for cheating.

"Oh …" Juli nodded her head slowly, as large drops fell from her eyes. "I was your mistake."

"…No, that's not what I meant."

"This is why I didn't want to listen to what you had to say."

"You were NOT a mistake," Cranky insisted.

"How could I not have been? By no choice of my own, I became the other woman, Cranky! I was the home wrecker!" She was breathing so heavily, she might as well have been suffocating. "Here I was hopelessly in love with a man who didn't tell me he was taken! And what's worse … I was just a damn doll to you …" She was trembling now, her usual porcelain face now beet red with sadness and anger. She tried regaining her composure but her body wouldn't co-operate, not until it had cried out its new stock of tears.

"Juli, come have a seat," Cranky said, taking her gently by her shoulders, leading the broken girl back to where he was sitting. "I'll get you a coffee."

She wasn't resisting him, but she didn't exactly want to do it either. "Why are you doing this?" she asked through sobs. "Don't act like you care if it's not genuine."

**XXXXX**

"Good news, Kenny's back and well thanks to Delta Red's efforts."

Guile nearly steered off the road in shock as Chun Li uttered those words over the phone. Though she delivered the news in a cold, professional fashion, Guile could sense the excitement under her voice.

"That's fantastic, Chun!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe you were right this whole time! Kenny really is alive … although I'd still like to figure out how."

"I told you," she said, and this time, he could've sworn she was wearing a smug smile judging from her tone.

"Has he said anything about Wagner?" Guile asked, the concern for his son showing through.

"Apparently, he was imprisoned in the same cell as Wagner," Chun Li replied. "And according to Kenny, Wagner was nearly successful and busting the both of them out of captivity. The last Kenny saw of him, he was alright. Although I'm not sure what could've happened since then."

"We can only hope for the best," Guile said, aware that there was little Chun Li could say to ease his worries about Wagner. "So Kenny's okay … I suppose that's what Wolfman wanted to tell us when he called us over to his host residence. Sorry I couldn't make it – I had to make a report back home to the American Embassy and let the Air Force know when I'll be headed back to work. What a vacation this is turning out to be."

"It's okay," Chun Li assured him, "there was no way we could've anticipated Wolfman's call. I was lucky I was able to make it."

"Are you guys still there?" Guile asked. "I got the message and I've got the address written down and I'm just headed over there right now."

"Actually, you might want to turn around and head on back to the hotel," Chun Li suggested. "There's been attack on Ken Masters and we're checking out the situation right now. I'm phoning you from the suite."

"What!" Guile exclaimed, his second major surprise in one phone call. "Is anybody hurt?"

"Ken's hurt pretty badly but he refuses to admit it. His wife, Eliza Masters has been taken to the hospital for a thorough checkup, but the paramedics think she'll be fine. We're investigating the incident right now, and apparently, the assailant was a friend of Ken's. His name is Julian Marquez."

"That's odd …" Guile said. He wanted to rub his chin in thought, but realized he would have to either drop the phone in one hand, or release the steering wheel with the other – neither of which would've been smart. "Julian is Ken Master's friend, and was reported missing along with Wagner. Oh God, do you think they could've done something to his psyche? And if that's true maybe they did the same thing to Wagner …"

"Now let's not jump to conclusions," Chun Li said. "We don't know anything about Wagner yet. Right now, the most accurate information we can get on his status comes from Kenny. And he hasn't said anything about …"

"There's no way anything else could've happened, unless they decided to kill him, Chun. And quite frankly, I don't know which one I'd rather have."

A commotion at the side of the street caught Guile's eye. He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to pull over. Perhaps being an experienced street fighter, the energy of a fight had some kind of gravitational pull on him. "Chun Li, I gotta go," he said, closing the phone without even waiting for another word from her. A group of various automobiles had pulled over along a small stretch of sidewalk, with a wmall crowd of spectators watching some kind of event going on. Guile pulled up the car and got out, immediately hearing the grunts and groans of a brawl.

"Excuse me," he said pushing himself through the mass of people. It was strange – nobody even bothered to step in and break it up. They just stood there, watching with mild interest, some of them showing a hint of fear on their faces. When Guile got to the center of the group, he could see that it was two young teens brawling viciously. "What the hell's going on!" he cried in his most authoritative tone, trying his best to imitate his drill instructor from days long gone by.

The two boys looked up at him but only for a split second. But it was the expression of the second boy, the one farther away from Guile that caught his attention. The face – it was too familiar. Like the one in the photograph that Guile kept in his wallet? Kenny! He was here! Guile tried to say something but the kids sped off without another word, another punch.

They scurried through the crowd of people, pushing their way through. Given Guile's massive size after years of training with the American military, he just shoved his way through the little Japanese people, trying to catch up to Kenny. But from the distance, Guile could see a group of police vehicles pull up to corner the kids, with sirens blaring, stirring up the cool evening air.

Guile caught up to Kenny and seized him by the collar of his shirt, picking him up off the ground with one arm as the youth yelled in protest. The other boy ran up ahead, only to be stopped by the police officers as they got out of their vehicles, yelling at him in Japanese that Guile could not understand.

"What the hell do you want!" Kenny cried, noticing that the officers had seized Yun, and were now headings towards him and Guile. "You gotta let me go, I've gotta get somewhere!"

"I don't think so," Guile replied. "I think you're in trouble with the cops and the only way you're getting get out of this is if you come with me."

Three pudgy officers, red faced and sweaty approached Guile, yelling something incomprehensible to the veteran airman.

"I'm so-rry," Guile said, speaking slowly. "I no speak-y Japanese!" He realized he must've sounded stupid, but he would try whatever he could to get his point across.

"They want you to let me go and identify yourself," Kenny explained.

"Oh …" Guile set Kenny on the ground and dug his hands into his camouflage pants, extracting a wallet that Kenny eyed like a hawk. Judging from the quality leather and the gold embossed logo, it definitely looked worthy of taking just for the wallet itself!

"Colonel William Guile of the American Air Force," he said, flipping it open showing them his badge for a good few seconds as they inspected it curiously. The officers looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what Guile was showing was a legal document from the American government.

"Kare ga America no munjiteki no daihyousha desu," Kenny translated. He looked back at Guile and nodded.

"Tell them that you are under the protection of the American Military," Guile said, "and if they have any inquiries to take their concerns straight to the American Embassy. And give them my ID number."

"Which one is it?" Kenny asked.

"It's on the bottom of the identification."

The exchange went pretty smoothly, and Kenny had to admit, he wasn't sure the Japanese authorities would've let him go that easily, especially when his name was probably a regular occurrence in their incident files from way back in the day. Then again, it had been awhile since he's ended up in their records – nine years to be exact, nine years that he spent in the States. Not to mention he was officially dead according to their records …

"Thanks," he said, accompanying Guile back to the car. "I appreciate what you've done for me, but I've gotta get going, seriously."

"What are you even doing here?" Guile asked. "I thought you'd be safe somewhere instead of out in the open where anyone working for Shadowlaw could spot you and decide to finish the job they started on you."

"They tried to keep me cooped up in that house," Kenny explained. "But I wouldn't have it. I mean, something just happened to my Uncle Ken, and everyone just left me in that house while they went off to investigate."

"Who do you mean by 'they'?"

"Chun Li, Ryu, Cranky, Cammy, and Wolfman. And I want to get over there and see how Uncle Ken's doing."

"They must've left you here for a pretty good reason."

"Don't bring me back," Kenny requested. "Please, I have to know what's going on over there. I swear I won't get in the way of the investigation."

Guile sighed outwardly. "Fine. Just stay away from the off limit zones. Go hang out in the cafeteria and eat something, or do whatever. Okay?"

"Swear to God."

**XXXXX**

"You were not just a doll to me," Cranky explained, watching Juli's eyes, hoping they would rise from her coffee cup to meet his. "You are a woman. And don't let yourself believe otherwise."

"And what is a woman to you?" she asked.

"A woman …" Cranky sighed. It was his turn to be defeated, staring blankly at the black surface of the patio table, taking in the elaborate patterns of the darkened wood. That's what he felt like inside, just a dark hole where his answers for Juli should've been. "You were there when I needed someone," Cranky explained, "and I'll always be thankful for that. I was down and … well, you picked me up."

"You haven't answered my question."

"A woman is someone to love."

"No," Juli said. "Men don't love women. Men love the _person_ that a woman is. Now, lust … men lust for women. Do you agree?"

"Yes."

"So which picked you up when you were down?" she continued inquiring. "Was it Juli the person, or the empty shell of a Shadowlaw doll?"

"I …" Cranky didn't know what to say. She was cutting to the chase. Juli knew exactly how she wanted him to respond, and was expertly setting up the question so the way he delivered his answer was unavoidable.

After the chance for him to respond had gone by, Juli decided to give up. She knew what his answer would be, and with every silent second that ticked by, she became surer of it. "Let me tell you what I loved," she said, leaning closer to him. "I loved Craig Crankurt. As a man, he could've been better at satisfying me. But as a person, he didn't need to. It had already been done."

Ouch. Juli had dissed him and exalted him in one sentence. He couldn't figure out what to say next. But Juli wasn't finished yet.

"I'm glad I was able to help you," she said, pushing her chair back as she shouldered her handbag. "But I know that you love Cammy. Love is a powerful thing alone, and even stronger when it's going both ways. That's why what you have with Cammy needs to be preserved, and my one way feelings need to be buried. There will be less to lose that way."

"Don't say that …" Cranky said, but his words were ignored.

Juli leaned down and kissed him lightly on the cheek. But Cranky was too busy feeling guilty to even take notice of it. He didn't want her to call it quits like that. He was happy with Cammy, but if Juli ever left, he would never be complete. He established that way back in England, before leaving for Raccoon to visit Kenny, and he intended it stayed that way. But ever since revealing his cheating to both girls, things started dwindling down from there. He wanted to avoid losing anyone he cared about. But was it his fault that he cared for them both? Did he even care for Juli if he was willing to let her walk away like this? He didn't know anything right now. Though he tried to understand, he couldn't come to terms with what was happening as he sat frozen in shock. Was she really calling it quits with him?

Juli's lips parted with Cranky's coarse stubble on his cheek, and she smiled. "As hard as I know it'll be, I will move on with my life. And as excruciating as it will be, I will get over you. At the very least, these painful experiences will serve as a constant reminder of my humanity … that I am NOT just a doll. Thanks for showing me that at least. I will never forget you, Cranky."

She said no more and headed off. The last sight of Juli that Cranky saw was her dark silhouette, highlighted by the final, orange rays of the sun as it prepared to hide behind the mountains. Cranky buried his face in his hands and for the first time for as long as he could remember, he cried.


	17. Chapter 13: Car Crash

Bison stared at the green, glowing computer screen in front of him, displaying a first person view from the perspective of one of his agents in the field. Bison could see a stretch off highway with a steady stream of vehicles traveling in both directions. The stretch of road was raised, allowing it to loop around and carry the vehicles under itself. From the looks of things, his unit was outside a major metropolis, and the data readings at the top right corner of the screen indicated that it was Osaka city, the high skyscrapers standing tall in the distance, their towering forms hidden behind thin veil of smog.

"Target approaching, sir," the monotone voice of Bison's unit said in a cold, impersonal manner. "Engage?"

"Not quite so fast, Wagner," Bison said, scratching his chin. "I want Guile to get a good look at you before you send his vehicle careening off the highway and down onto the road below. I want to see the fear and betrayal in his eyes."

"Calculations indicate that the risk is too high, sir," Wagner replied. "Engaging in battle at too late an interval increases the risk of sustaining heavy damage, considering the speed of his vehicle."

"You're supposed to follow MY orders, Wagner," Bison shouted. "Your conscience is meant to be used should communications with headquarters dysfunction!"

The metal doors to Bison's throne room opened with a mechanical whir and Sagat's tall form stepped into the room. Bison didn't even turn around to acknowledge the man, he was so furious with Wagner's audacity to question his orders.

"Sir," Sagat said, bowing his head slightly, "Julian had returned from his outing."

"The mission?"

"Failed."

"WHAT?" Bison roared, spinning around as his cape flapped valiantly behind him. "Ken Masters was not killed?"

"We have apparently underestimated Mr. Masters," Sagat continued. "After all, research reveals that he trained with Ryu since they were both children. It makes sense that they would be similarly skilled."

"Ken Masters needs to die if we want the Satsui no Hadou from Ryu's body. I don't care how you do it, just get it done!"

"Then we need to pull Wagner from the field," Sagat suggested. "Clearly, Julian alone is not enough to take Masters down, not even with the Agent Initiative system in his body."

"This is unacceptable," Bison said, shaking his head. "This technology was designed to be far superior to any of Shadowlaw's technological advancements in the past. How in the world can it fail against one cocky martial arts superstar!"

"Perhaps Julian and Wagner weren't the best choices," Sagat said.

"You're lucky I'm not going to execute you on the spot for saying that," Bison spat through clenched teeth. "My faith in you has grown in recent weeks due to the success of your retrieval missions, but I sense that it's getting to your head. I will not tolerate my subordinates talking to me in such a manner."

"Yes, sir," Sagat apologized, bowing his head again. "What do you suggest we do now?"

"We'll launch another assault on Ken Masters after Wagner completes his current mission," Bison said. "Right now, the target, Colonel William Guile of the United States Air Force is headed his way …" Bison paused as something interesting caught his attention on screen – something that sent chills of satisfaction up his spine at first, and then angered him beyond all belief.

Wagner had stepped into the path of Guile's speeding vehicle. The colonel's reaction was quick as the turned the steering wheel to avoid a collision – just what Bison was hoping for. The car veered off into the HOV lane and collided with a pickup truck, crushing the sides of both vehicles. As Wagner moved in for the kill, Bison could see Guile inside the car, looking quite stunned and unconscious, but otherwise alright. But in the passenger seat, with a trail of blood running down the side of his face was a boy that should have been dead.

XXXXX

"Hey, Cranky, are you alright?"

Cranky didn't even look up at the speaker, but from the voice, he could tell it was Cammy. She'd finally seen all of him, and this was the worst part, in this kind of vulnerable state. He was always so used to comforting her, being her pillar of strength when she was weak. Cranky always had the hero complex, developed during his late teenage years, saving kittens out of trees, anything to impress the ladies. He was a thief turned charmer. He even bragged about the fact that he single-handedly raised an orphan child – a fact that most women believed was a lie just to get them in bed with him, despite it being the truth. As for Cranky, he considered himself to be good at getting what he wanted from a woman, but Cammy did so much more for him. And it pained him that much for her to see him in this state.

We wiped his nose with the back of his hand and looked up at Cammy, standing there gazing at him with a look of concern in her eyes. He smiled.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Are you finished the investigation."

"I don't want to talk about the investigation, I want to talk about you," she said, planting herself in the same seat Juli was in just a few minutes ago. "I want to know what's going on in that head of yours. I've never seen you like …"

"And you won't see this again," Cranky said firmly.

"No, I want to see it if you need to let it out," Cammy continued in her soothing tone. "Stop the macho charade already. Sometimes I swear, women recognize the mortality in men more than men see it in themselves."

"Juli was here," Cranky said, keeping it short and sweet.

Cammy's sympathetic smile turned into a mean looking frown. "You better not have touched her."

"I bought her a coffee."

"Oh, that's IT! I don't know why I put up with you sometimes!" Cammy said, sitting erect as she stomped her foot on the ground. "I thought you would've called it quits with her by now!"

"She was the one who dumped me."

"She had to dump you?" Cammy grew angrier with every word that came out of Cranky's mouth. "As in, you wouldn't let go of her so she had to let you go to be with me?"

"Juli was really hurt. I didn't have the heart to just …"

"You have to decide who is more important to you and not hold on to two women at the same time! And you can't take too long because I won't stick around and wait for some guy to accept me. That's not the deal, that's not how I work and I don't fucking care how much I'm in love with you!" Cammy's anger gave way to tears. She wanted to cry, but she'd had enough of that over the course of her life. Instead, she squeezed her hands together between her knees and took a deep breath.

"Juli dumped me because she's well aware of my feelings for you. I care about her, but not with the same intensity that she cares about me. I think I've made it clear to her that I chose you, Cammy. So stop yelling."

As if obeying an order, she said nothing more, staring at the ground with glazed eyes instead. "I'm sorry, I … I didn't know how you felt. I guess I'm still … insecure. I'm trying to be objective about this, but it's so hard having personal feelings involved. I want to say she did the right thing, but I can't help but feel so selfish saying that."

"Just because I chose you, that doesn't mean I don't care about Juli at all. And thinking about her crying to herself right now … well, that's why you saw me in the state I was in. Anyway, nothing left for me to do for her. What are you doing here?"

"There's nothing left to investigate. Both witnesses to the attack are alive and well – Ken and Eliza. They're being taken to the hospital where an interview will be held with police. We're just packing up and leaving so I came to find you."

"You're a bad liar."

"But Ken and Eliza really are being taken to the hospital."

"That's not the whole reason why you came. I can read you like a fucking book, Cammy." He winked at her. "There's something you want to tell me."

Cammy gulped at a dry lump in her throat. Now was the perfect moment to tell him. There was hardly anybody around – the two of them were alone, with the most privacy they'd be given in the last few days. Furthermore, she'd just blown up at him a few moments ago, and this would be the perfect opportunity for him to blow up at her. And did she ever deserve it for keeping a secret like this from him for so long. At least if he were to yell at her, the guilt would be lifted from her shoulders, and it wasn't like she didn't want to let it out either. She'd unintentionally ratted herself out to Kenny, and it would only be a matter of time before he'd blab it to Cranky. Better that he hear it from her than his brother.

"A few months ago, after I left on the mission that I ended up getting kidnapped, there was a horrible accident," she began. "I participated in a heated argument with my interrogator and … well … fists and feet went flying. And then he kicked me … and …"

Finally, Cranky could return to being Cammy's support and not the other way round. It looked like she was having a hard time telling him what she was, but he urged her to go on, looking straight at her, nodding his head in comprehension.

Cammy continued, "And I realized …" and chickened out at the last second, "that I loved you more than anything in the world … and how much I would've rather been by your side than in that horrible place."

He took her trembling body into his embrace. "Well, at least the feeling is mutual." He caressed her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah …" Cammy said weakly, feeling defeated by her own fears and insecurities of her relationship with the only man she cared this much for.

XXXXX

"So you mind explaining what all that action was back there?" Guile asked Kenny, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"You mean my little scrap with that guy? He just decided to pick a fight with me."

"For no apparent reason?"

"None whatsoever," Kenny replied shaking his head.

"I don't believe you."

"What!"

"I said, I don't believe you, Kenny," Guile said, more sternly this time. "When kids pick a fight for no reason, they usually have a group of friends with them. Their intent is usually to show off to their peers what they're capable of doing."

"Well I don't know what else to tell you Guile, if you won't believe the truth!" Kenny said.

"And how about the fact that the boy you were fighting with was Yun Lee? He is a disciple of Master Gen, Chun Li's former master. And I highly doubt Master Gen would rear his students in such a manner."

"Well … I … dunno what to say …"

As if to capitalize on Guile's suspicions about Kenny, the purse the teen had stolen slipped from his pocket and onto the seat of vehicle where the youth sat.

"Now either you've got expensive taste in women's designer purses, or …"

Kenny started looking a little frantic, his eyes darting back and forth around the vehicle, everywhere except to look straight at Guile. "Well, come on Guile, Prada is where it's at!" He offered a weak smile, but Guile was not impressed with his feeble lie. "Please don't arrest me."

"Kenny …"

"I swear I'll never steal again!" he continued in desperation. "I just needed some cash for a taxi to get over to the hotel and then that kid jumped me."

"Now that sounds like one of Gen's students, holding up the high moral values the old man instills in his pupils."

"Hey, don't talk like I'm the bad guy!"

"Give me the wallet, Kenny," Guile ordered, extending an open palm.

"You don't understand what kind of money is in here!"

"All the more reason to hand it over to the authorities. Now give it to me."

Kenny drooped his shoulders in defeat and surrendered the purse. As he was about to deposit it into Guile's palm, the car suddenly swerved violently, throwing him into the door. His head smashed against the passenger window hard enough for him to start seeing stars. But the roller coaster ride was not over. The G-force from the spinning motion of the car kept him pinned to the door, his head threatening to break through the window. Tires scream in pain as something large and heavy crashed into the windshield, throwing cubes of glass onto them as it bent the frame of the car under its weight. Something collided with the car from the opposite side, colliding with the back passenger seat. Once again, they were in motion but Kenny was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness, unaware of what was happening around him. As quickly as it had started, the chaos had ended.

Kenny breathed slowly, struggling to calm his nerves and take control of the situation. He had just been through his first car crash and it was not an exciting experience. He glanced down at his lap to undo the seat belt and found the wallet lying there peacefully – and smiled. Looking over, he noticed that Guile looked relatively unharmed besides a few scratches and gashed on his arms and hands. But he was clearly unconscious.

The smell of gasoline assaulted Kenny's senses, a smell and drove him to panic. Back when he was on the streets with Cranky watching over him, he remembered hunting for gasoline to burn fires at night to keep them warm. He loved the smell when he was a kid, but Cranky had always said not to sniff it too much because it was toxic. And Kenny also remembered how quickly it would catch things on fire after just throwing a match into a pile of gasoline soaked newspaper for the nightly bonfire.

Something took over his body then, something that forced his arms to move lighting quick with precision as he unfastened his seatbelt and Guile's with one quick swoop of his arm. The initial movement sent shooting pains through his head, remembering now that he'd crashed it into the glass. By the time the memory was over, he had pushed the crumpled door open with all his might, jumping out onto the highway where cars zoomed by at high speeds just a few feet away. Kenny tried running around the hood of the car, but it felt as if the shooting pain in his head spread to his legs. He limped over to the other side, pulled Guile's door open with much effort, and struggled to pull him out.

Now he could smell smoke. Any second now, any second … Kenny shifted into high gear, taking Guile gently but firmly by the shoulders and turning him slightly so Kenny could slip his arms under Guile's armpits and pull him out of the vehicle. He didn't expect the man to be as heavy as he was. Pull as he might, his progress was slow as he inched Guile out of his seat.

Sweat from Kenny's brow mixed with the blood spilling from his head wound as the vile cocktail ran down the side of his face. He bit down hard on his bottom lip and tugged at Guile's torso with as much strength as he could muster. The airman was easily twice Kenny's weight in pure muscle, having trained in the military for most of his life.

"Come on you big oaf!" Kenny hissed through clenched teeth. "Throw me a fucking bone here!" Guile finally popped from for the car and crashed onto the pavement. Kenny continued working, pulling him towards the sidewalk. Without the strange angles of the drivers seat getting in his way, Kenny's progress was a lot faster, as dragging Guile in one general direction was fairly straightforward – both conceptually and physically.

And then the car erupted into flames and exploded as the fire finally hit the gas tank. Instinctively, Kenny threw himself over the unconscious airman using himself as a human blanket as the heat licked painfully at his back. He could hear bits of clanking metal while the debris from the vehicles rained from the sky. Kenny cradled Guile's head in his arm in hopes from protecting it from the falling debris, while he covered his own with the other arm. Something hard and heavy hit him on the head, crushing his fingers into the back of the skull. Kenny struggled to hold onto consciousness, but the task proved more difficult than his battered body could handle. As far as he could tell, the destruction was over, the car now just a burning hunk of twisted metal. As his vision faded and darkness took over, Kenny could've sworn he saw a figure standing over him and Guile with a blank expression set on his familiar face.

"Awaiting orders, sir," he said.

It was the guy that helped Kenny while they were imprisoned in Shadowlaw headquarters. What was Wagner doing here? And why in the world was he holding … Kenny's vision traveled down the length of his arm and spotted a semi-automatic rifle in his firm grasp. As if an invisible superior had ordered, Wagner nodded to nobody who Kenny could see in particular, and raised nozzle of the firearm towards him.

Kenny would be spared the sight of being shot in the head as he slipped into unconsciousness at that exact moment.

**XXXXX**

Before Wagner had the chance to even pull the trigger, Kenny had slumped over, having taking more abuse than his body could handle from the car crash alone. Rescuing Guile from the driver's seat was a whole different task with its own challenges, given the size difference between him and Kenny. And finally, with the explosion of the vehicle and the rubble hitting him square on the head Wagner didn't have to waste a bullet on Kenny.

"The threat has been neutralized," Wagner reported to Bison. "Recommence target objective?"

"Kill Guile," Bison ordered from the other end of the radio chip implanted into Wagner's ear. "But I want you to make sure he's awake when you do it. Wake him up first."

Wagner prodded Guile in the ribs with the tip of his boot. The older airman stirred on the ground, his eyes moving behind closed eyelids. He opened them slowly, blinking a few times to get them adjusted to the light. The stench of burning wreckage was thick in the evening air. He pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position, coming face to face with the nozzle of a rifle.

"What in the world …" his gaze traced its way up the gun towards the handle, up the arm that held it and then to the face that sneered at him. "Wagner?" But it only took a second for him to realize what was going on. Julian and Wagner had gone missing at the same time. Julian had just been reported attacking Ken Masters, a good friend of his. It would only make sense that whoever was responsible for turning Julian against Ken would do the same to Wagner – turning him against the man who raised him. Shadowlaw became more likely a suspect with every passing incident.

Guile seized the rifle with his hands and pointed it away from his face, giving a strong tug, pulling it free from Wagner's grasp, who immediately moved into a fighting position with his fists raised protectively in front of his face.

"You don't want to be fighting me, Wagner," Guile said, widening his stance, trying to appear as intimidating as possible. He wasn't sure if it would work. Wagner surely wasn't thinking straight right now if he had the nerve to attack Guile – and the logic that the older man could probably own him in a fight might as well have been a foreign concept.

"Commencing attack pattern theta." Wagner took a quick step towards Guile and unleashed an uppercut, catching him in the jaw. Guile was knocked back momentarily but was able to regain his concentration despite having just woken up from a car crash. Wagner's assault didn't stop there. The uppercut was followed by a left jab and a right hook to the cheek, stunning Guile again. Wagner grabbed the man by his shoulders and forced Guile's torso into his knee. Wagner then kicked his foot up catching Guile in the chin for a double hit, sending the older airman skywards.

Guile landed hard on the pavement on his shoulder. He struggled to get up but was still disoriented from Wagner's attacks. Wagner walked over slowly, giving Guile ample time to realize what was going on, that his own adopted son was beating the stuffing out of him.

"That's right," Bison smiled with glee as he watched from Wagner's eyepiece, "show me the betrayal in your eyes, Colonel. Know that it is your own son that will end your life."

Wagner prepared to run towards Guile to deliver a backwards flip flash kick, a move he'd learned from Guile but tailored to his own style. The final running step had been taken and Wagner was about to take his right foot off the ground to deliver the strike. As he kicked his foot off the ground, he realized his left, stabilizing foot was not leaving the ground. He glanced down at his foot to see Kenny, barely conscious, grasping Wagner's ankle with whatever remaining strength he had left. The momentum that carried Wagner's body was still in action, causing the Shadowlaw airman to fall flat on his back, giving Guile enough time to get to his feet.

Wagner glared at Kenny who only stared back defiantly. Deciding that Kenny wouldn't let go anytime soon, Wagner aimed a kick at his head, but he managed to block the blow with his arm.

Kenny had bought Guile some time, allowing him to sneak up on Wagner and grab in a headlock. Wagner cried out in shock and pulled against Guile's arms that held his head tightly. Guile applied as much pressure as his weak state would allow but Wagner was resilient. The two of them grappled for a few moments, each man trying to get an advantage over the other.

Hoping to free himself from Guile's choking hold, Wagner inched closer to the burning wreckage. Guile seemed to be aware of what he was trying to do as he tried finding some solid footing to resist Wagner's advances. But he couldn't find any jagged rock on the smooth pavement to gain a solid foothold. Realizing that he had no other alternative if he wished to get out of this battle in one piece, Guile released Wagner who collapsed to the ground immediately gasping for air.

"Guile, are you okay?" Kenny asked, picking himself up from the ground.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he replied. "What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was the car …"

"We crashed," Kenny said, wincing as he touched the side of his head gently.

"How did I get out of the car …?"

"I pulled you out, and it wasn't easy either!" Kenny scratched at the side of his head but winced in pain from the wound he received.

"Holy shit, you're bleeding!" Guile's eyes went wide at the sight. "We've gotta call an ambulance for you."

"We've got bigger things to worry about right now," Kenny said, tipping his chin at Wagner, who was now getting up slowly from the ground. "What happened to him? Why is he attacking us?"

"I don't know," Guile replied, keeping his eyes on Wagner's rising form, "but I've got a hunch. Shadowlaw."

"You take him head on," Kenny suggested. "Distract him while I attack him from behind."

"You can't be serious …"

"Guile, I know he's your son but if we go easy on him, he'll kill us! We have to at least incapacitate him."

"That's not what I meant. Wagner's got a few years on you, not to mention a few solid pounds and military experience. How can you hope to …"

"And I'll kick your ass too, once we're done with him. Now go!"

**XXXXX**

Colonel Wolfman waited impatiently in the lobby of the hotel, tapping his foot against the marble flooring. Cammy walked through the sliding glass doors of the restaurant entrance hand in hand with Cranky. His eyes were red, and she looked emotionally weak – a sight Wolfman had grown to be familiar with over the time he'd gotten to work with her.

"Is everything settled between you two?" he asked, unsure of what else to say. Then again, perhaps it was none of his business and he should've just kept quiet. Wolfman had never been much of the emotional kind. Cammy didn't seem to mind though, as she replied promptly.

"We're going to be fine," she said.

"That's good to hear."

"Where are the others?" Cranky asked, looking around, noticing the absence of Chun Li and Ryu.

"Ryu's accompanying Ken to the hospital. The poor man … I understand his dedication to his training for this tournament, but with his friend in the condition that he is, I think it'll be hard for him to keep his mind clear. And Chun Li …"

"Did something happen to her?" Cammy asked out of concern, reading the look of regret in Wolfman's eyes.

"She had to book it down to the police station," Wolfman explained. "Apparently a fellow student of hers is being held down there for questioning regarding a little misdemeanor."

"I didn't know the detective had that kind of connection in Osaka," Cammy said.

"He's one of Master Gen's students," Wolfman continued, "and he claims to have something important to tell her – aside of having to be rescued from the Japanese authorities. This can't look good on her record."

"Well, there's no use standing here and wondering what's going on," Cranky said, "let's just go home. I'm exhausted."

"Back to my place?" Cammy asked, a coy smile spreading across her face.

"You know it," Cranky replied back, reflecting her smile back at her.

"You need a lift, Wolfman?"

"No thanks," he said, raising a hand, "Chun Li told me Guile is on his way here – after heading for the house to meet us. The guy's been trying to keep up with us but is one step behind. I'll stay here and wait for him. You guys go ahead."

"Alright then, we'll catch you later."

**XXXXX**

"Sonic Boom!" Guile swung his arms forward, sending twin spinning blades of chi aimed at Wagner, the sound energy slicing cleanly through the air. Wagner expertly dodged the projectile as he headed towards Guile. The attack continued past Wagner's shoulder, narrowly missing a speeding car on the highway.

"Be careful where you aim," Kenny warned, standing with his body sideways in relation to the antagonist's position, ready to attack at any moment. "There are too many civilians around."

"Come on, Wagner!" Guile taunted. "I thought I taught you better than that!"

"Target's energy levels rising," Wagner said. "Entering alpha mode, offensive." He jumped up, his body traveling vertically up into the air. He kicked his leg out trying to smash Guile in the side of the head, but the target blocked the move easily and retaliated, grabbing Wagner by the knee and taking the young airman to the ground.

Wagner attempted to throw Guile off him by kicking with his other leg as both men crashed into the pavement. This hit was successful, knocking the senses out of him temporarily. Guile backed off to regain his balance but Wagner was determined to keep the offensive position.

Kenny intercepted with a double fist strike, swinging his arms as if he were carrying an invisible baseball bat. His fists crashed into Wagner's midsection, knocking the wind out of him, but Wagner pressed on, grabbing the youth by the collar of his shirt and delivered a vicious head butt into Kenny's forehead, sending him stumbling backwards.

A rested Guile took over the attack once again, somersaulting backwards as he kicked out a leg, performing a violent flash kick. The toe of Guile's combat boots struck Wagner in the jaw sending him soaring a good few feet into the air. Guile performed another flash kick, striking Wagner a second time, and completed the combination attack with a third, each strike sending Wagner higher and higher into the air until he crashed painfully into the ground with a bone crunching thud.

As painful as the landing looked, Wagner got up right away and wiped away a trail of blood from his lip. "Targets are powerful," he said, "requesting back up, Lord Bison. Continuing attack will put this unit at risk of sustaining heavier damage."

"I don't fucking think so!" Kenny cried and lunged for Wagner, arms outstretched. He caught Wagner in a chokehold but wasn't as strong as Guile was, unable to incapacitate him. Wagner flipped Kenny over his shoulder onto the ground and stomped downwards, the strike aimed for his head. Kenny caught Wagner's boot in his hands, but was only capable of softening the blow, as the back of his palms crushed his nose into his face. The youth, keeping a strong hold on Wagner's foot, twisted it, throwing the Shadowlaw agent off balance. While Wagner struggled to regain his balance, Guile jumped in, carefully stepping over Kenny and delivered a spinning back kick to Wagner's chest.

"We can't let him call for backup," Kenny said, scrambling to his feet. His nose was bleeding, the blood flowing down his face and onto his shirt, staining it a deep scarlet.

"You have to stop fighting," Guile suggested, "you can't continue like this."

"Forget about me and keep him busy," Kenny countered, "I'll help while I can. You're in no position to be arguing with … OOF!" Wagner tackled Kenny, positioning himself behind the youth. He wrapped one arm around Kenny's neck, pulling out a combat knife from his boot and held it to his throat.

"Wagner, no!" Guile pleaded.

"Energy reserves depleting," Wagner said, "options limited."

"Think of what you're doing!" Guile continued, deciding that perhaps he should give diplomacy a try. Wagner was a young man with a conscience. The Wagner Guile raised would never be caught dead hiding behind another human being, especially behind a kid like Kenny. "What's happened to you, Wagner? Why are you allying yourself with Shadowlaw after all they've done for you? Remember your family – your REAL family! Remember how they died at Bison's hands …"

Something in Wagner hesitated. His face broke its cold, impersonal expression. His lower lip began to tremble. It was working!

"You're not being any better than Bison was to you," Guile continued. "In fact, you're contributing to his causes. Is this what your parents would want for you?"

"Must … terminate the targets …"

"Are you going to lower yourself to Bison's level by killing a child who's barely hit manhood?"

"Hey!" Kenny yelled, offended by Guile's comment.

"Put the knife down, Wagner. You're just a tool at Bison's disposal. Forget about Shadowlaw. Think about what they did to Cammy, your sister. Think about what you mean to them, and what you mean to us. I know, you can't go on living with yourself if you did this."

"No!" Wagner released Kenny, throwing him forward. Kenny tripped over his own feet and landed face first in the ground. Meanwhile Wagner let go of the knife, letting it clang harmlessly at his feet, while he clutched at his face and cried out in emotional agony. "W…what the hell is going on?" he asked himself.

Guile helped Kenny up, all the while keeping a close eye on Wagner. "Get a hold of yourself, soldier."

"Y…yes, sir," Wagner said, slowly regaining his composure. He looked terrible – his face was pale but at least his eyes were the usual clear blue, nothing like the glazed, emotionless orbs they were just a few moments ago. They had him back … for now.

**XXXXX**

"I'm sorry I had to bring the news to you like this," Yun said, motioning to his surroundings. The police station was well kept and tidy, white being the color they chose for the walls and the décor. The whole waiting room looked sterile, and he was surprised he couldn't smell and disinfectant or chemicals. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble by coming to Japan, but after I heard that some kid had stolen a woman's wallet, I …"

Chun Li held up her hand, indicating for Yun to stop his excuses. "M…Master Gen is … dead?" she asked, her shoulders and arms trembling with shock.

"Yes," Yun replied, nodding grimly. "He was killed by a … man. Or a demon, I can't say."

"Please Yun, you should know better than to believe in such things."

Yun shook his head. "I never did. But after running into this man, I wasn't so sure anymore. The sheer aura emanating from his body … it felt so unnatural, so inhuman. The way his eyes glowed, his dark skin, the flaming red hair … everything about him seemed more than just human. He was like some kind of creature straight from hell."

"Akuma …" Chun Li whispered with dread.

"He said something about searching for the one man who could embrace the Dark Hadou … the Satsui no Hadou."

"He was supposed to have died in the Mount Fuji explosion," Chun Li said. "But I should've known something like that wouldn't have killed him. After all this time, he's still hunting Ryu."

Yun's eyes widened in surprise. "Ryu? Are you talking about the street fighter champion?"

She nodded. "Akuma was looking for Ryu nine years ago to help spread the Satsui no Hadou. Akuma is the last practitioner of the dark Shotokan arts and he doesn't want it to die with him. That's why he's after Ryu."

"Small world," Yun commented.

"And he killed Master Gen …" Chun Li said, slamming her fist down on the arm rest of the chair. She sniffed and wiped away the tears from her eyes. "What would he want with Master Gen? He was an ailing old man!"

"You know how our Master thinks," Yun said, putting his hand on Chun Li's shoulder. "He would rather go down fighting a worthy opponent than to a disease. But of all the people to take him down, it had to be at the hands of a corrupt demon like Akuma. I want you to help me get to him."

She took her hand away from her face and replied with a firm and solid, "NO!" Yun reared back slightly in shock from her sudden outburst.

"What do you mean by that!"

"I meant what I said," Chun Li continued. "I mean no! You're nowhere near Gen's level of skill and experience. And even HE lost to Akuma. How can you hope to fight him with the kind of experience you have?"

"You're starting to sound like Yang," Yun said, looking down at his feet in disappointment.

"Then Yang is right. As an ex-student of Master Gen's, I understand why you feel you need to avenge his death. But this is a vengeance best left out of your hands. You cannot, against all reason, hope to defeat Akuma."

"I'm surprised to hear you lecturing me about vengeance."

"I didn't run head first into Shadowlaw headquarters to make them pay for what they did to my father," Chun Li explained. "It was that determination that drove me to become a police officer, and then an agent with Interpol. I'm working my way up and training hard with every breathing moment, working hard at developing my skills for the day I will finally face Bison in battle. And yet, I don't even feel ready to take on Akuma. These things take time. Rushing recklessly into a dangerous battle will only get you killed."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest you return home to Hong Kong. I have to warn Ryu about Akuma. No doubt he will be hot on Ryu's trail soon, if not already. God, this was the last thing we needed after what happened at the hotel today."

"I'm not letting Ryu kill the man who should be dying at my hands," Yun said defiantly.

"Before Master Gen, there was Master Gouken," Chun Li explained. "Vengeance has been on Ryu's mind far longer that it's been in yours. And Ryu's been training for his battle since before you were born. If anyone is going to take Akuma down, it's him."

"And you're just going to sit back without having any part in it?"

"I wish I could, but I've got my hands full with Bison and Shadowlaw. There's just too much to deal with right now. And sometimes, no matter how great of a warrior you are, you have to rely on others to get you through things. Please try to understand, Yun. I loved Master Gen as much as you do. But I know he wouldn't want any of us concerning ourselves with his death. This is how he chose to end it. It was an honorable death."

"No …" Yun said softly, slowly losing his composure. He threw his arms around Chun Li and began sobbing for his father figure, his teacher, his guide in life. She returned the gesture, also crying for the man that had kept her on the right path, the man who kept her thirst for revenge in check and instilled a strong sense of justice in her.

If there was one thing positive about Master Gen's death, it was the fact that it had brought two very different people of different generations closer together. They had one thing in common though, and it was the fact that they had been raised by a great man. Master Gen would have been proud.


	18. Chapter 14: Remorse Released

Kenny's head hurt from a combination of his injuries sustained in the car crash, the blaring sirens, and the bumpy ambulance ride. He was lying on a stretcher that had been latched to the floor of the ambulance with Wagner by his side. Wagner was mumbling apologies for the last few minutes since he'd come to and Kenny had long since tuned out of it. His head hurt, and he was sleepy. The trail of blood that had once flowed freely down his head was now dried and crusted against his skin. It hurt to make a face. His shirt was also stained with his own blood – enough for one to think he'd been stabbed instead of hurting his head.

"Forget about it," Guile said, waving off Wagner's apologies. "I understand."

"No you don't, Guile," Wagner continued, "it was like I couldn't control my own emotions, like something was forcing me to me angry, forcing me to use my strength. I didn't mean to …"

"I know you didn't," Guile replied, "now, can you please stop this? You're well aware that you're not responsible for what happened back there. If anything, you're a victim, just like we are." He turned his attention to Kenny, who lay before them drifting in and out of consciousness.

"What are you staring at?" Kenny asked sleepily. His eyes were closed but it was as if he could feel their gazes on him.

"I just want to thank you," Guile said, patting him on the knee. "If it wasn't for you, I probably would've died in the crash."

"You would've died in the explosion," Kenny corrected. "And you're welcome. It's the least I could do after you came here to make sure I was alive – even when you thought I was dead."

"You know, I …" Guile had tagged along with Chun Li to shut her up once and for all, to prove to her that Kenny was dead and to stop rambling all the bullshit about him still being alive. Revenge – that was Guile's true motive for registering for the Street Fighter tournaments. Since Charlie's passing in the last Alpha tournament, Guile had been aching to give Bison a taste of his own medicine, having taken his best friend from him. None of this had anything to do with Kenny, really. It was just convenient that he turned up alive, one more item to check off his list of priorities. But Guile wasn't going to tell him that now, not when he was in this state.

"Listen, can you just let me sleep for a bit?" Kenny asked. "My head's throbbing. I don't feel so good."

"You think it could be a concussion?" Wagner asked Guile.

"I don't know anything about head trauma," Guile admitted. "He should be fine though, after pulling me from the car when he was more hurt than I was."

"He might've exerted himself too much."

"It'll take more than a little bump to take Kenny down, right, buddy?" Guile asked, lightly tapping the youth on the shoulder. But there was no response, not even an irritated scowl on his tired face. "Hey, Kenny are you …"

"Damn, he's gone really pale, Guile," Wagner said, peering closer. The father and son looked at each other with concerned expressions.

"Check his breathing," Guile said, as Wagner put his hand to Kenny's lips.

"It's very shallow," he replied, "almost non-existent."

**XXXXX**

**"**Hey, where are you going?" Cranky asked. Cammy wasn't going back to her place – he knew downtown Osaka like the back of his hand and if there was somewhere she was trying to take him without saying anything, there was no way she was getting away with it.

"I'm sorry," she said sadly, "I know I said we'd head back to my place but … I'm feeling pretty uneasy about Ken and all."

"I know what you mean," Cranky replied. "He had an encounter with one of Shadowlaw's cronies. It's a miracle he even made it out alive."

"He's a martial arts champion," Cammy explained, "so it's really not that big of a miracle. I just don't feel good about the circumstances we're meeting under, after so many years."

She could feel Cranky suddenly get stone cold, as if the warmth that radiated off him suddenly ceased. Cammy was quick to say something before he got the wrong idea. "I just want to make sure he's okay. Even if he says he is, that's just Ken's personality. He's not one to display weakness in front of …"

"Do you still have feelings at him?" Cranky interrupted.

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Of course not!" Cammy insisted. "But that doesn't mean I don't care about his well-being!"

"Alright," Cranky said, surrendering, "you win. Besides, I've got a few things to say to him too."

"He's taken care of Kenny financially for the past nine years," Cammy said. "It started with eight thousand dollars a month, and gradually went up as Kenny got older and Ken made more money with his family's business."

"My thoughts, exactly." Cranky shook his head in disbelief, understanding the truth in that statement. "I should've been there," he said. "The little fucker's been growing up all this time and I've been oblivious to it."

"It's not your fault for not knowing. We all thought Kenny was dead."

"He was six the last time I saw him."

"He's not a child anymore," Cammy said. "I had a nice chat with him back at the house. He seems like a pretty intelligent teenager – with a smart mouth to match."

Cranky laughed. "I taught him to be like that, and I was pretty damn proud until I realized he could probably out-talk me." Cranky shook his head in amazement. "If it wasn't for Ken …"

Cammy put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I know. You must be very grateful to him. Just keep your gratitude to yourself for now. Don't wear it out on me before you can express it to the man who really deserves it."

XXXXX

Kenny, Guile and Wagner were evacuated from the ambulance with remarkable speed, efficiency and delicacy, given the state of the three of them. Nurses and doctors dashed out from the sliding emergency doors and each one dashed to a patient as if they had been assigned who to tend to before they even arrived. Guile was helped into a wheelchair, despite his protests.

"I'm not crippled," he insisted. "I've just got a few scrapes and bruises …"

"We're still obligated to make sure you have no injuries that you're unaware of," a doctor explained. "Now please sir, we're going to need your co-operation. Guile scowled as he folded his arms across his chest like a child as a nurse wheeled him away to the emergency ward.

Just ahead of Guile, a small army of four nurses, along with the help of the paramedics, unloaded Kenny from the stretcher onto a portable bed. They were half jogging down the corridors, one of them talking his pulse, another one taping an IV down onto his right hand. The sense of urgency with him was a lot higher than it had been with Guile.

"We're looking at trauma to the head," the nurse leading the way explained to a doctor who had just caught up to them. "Possible concussion."

"Brain damage?" the doctor asked.

"We're not sure at this point."

"What else? His whole frontal torso is covered in blood."

"No open wounds on his chest. The blood is suspected to have come from his nose. Judging from the extent of the bleeding, it's more than just one busted vein in his nose. The whole thing could be broken."

Guile watched intently at nurses and the doctor talking intensely. He strained to listen to what they were saying but among the noise of the other patients and the wind against his ears from people scrambling to get out of the way, it was hard to make out anything sensible. But their facial expressions and body language deeply disturbed Guile.

"I don't like this," he said to Wagner who was walking beside him at a steady pace. "When the doctors look worried, that's never a good sign."

"They're probably only worried because they just don't know anything about his condition yet," Wagner explained rationally, not wanting to give the situation more attention than in deserved. "You were there. You saw how he fought. He even pulled you out from the car. He can't be in that bad of shape."

"Maybe he is and the injuries and the fight are taking a toll on him. We're not trained in the medical field – we don't know what's wrong with him even though he seems fine. If Kenny really was fine, the doctors wouldn't look so worried."

"He'll be fine," Wagner reassured. "We're in a hospital! This is the best place to be when you're injured!"

The hospital was poorly designed in the sense that it was quite a commute from the ambulance entrance to the emergency ward. Kenny and his team of nurses were far enough ahead that their forms were mere blurry shapes in a sea of white, sterile walls and uniforms. Something caught Wagner's eye – people dressed in a colour palette that stood out – a young woman with blonde hair and pigtails dressed in civilian clothing and red combat gloves, standing beside a young man with red hair, a black T-shirt and blue jeans. Wagner only needed a quick glimpse to recognize who they were.

"Cammy?" he asked. She responded to her name, whirling around to see who it was that had called her. Upon laying her eyes on Wagner, an elated smile crossed her delicate features.

"Wagner!" she cried in excitement. She caught sight of Guile being wheeled away and reached out to the man, but his aid was too quick for her. "What in the world happened?" she asked Wagner in confusion.

"It's a long story," he replied. He looked at Cranky, standing by her side looking equally confused as Cammy did. Wagner tipped his head at him and continued, this time talking to both of them. "But I think it would be in your best interest to follow us, and I'll tell you along the way."

Cammy and Cranky complied, picking up the pace as they fought to keep up with Guile. Cranky remained behind but only for a second, dismissing the nurse at the help counter.

"But before I tell you folks anything," Wagner said, "you have to tell me what you're doing here."

"We're here to visit Ken," Cammy replied. "He came under attack and we believe it was because of Shadowlaw's goons – well, not really, more like a brainwashed Julian Marquez. We heard you were kidnapped along with him, so when we found out that Julian was sent straight for Ken Masters, we thought it would just be a matter of time before you followed up."

"It's good to see you're alright and not some brainwashed Shadowlaw tool," Cranky continued.

"That's the problem," Wagner explained, "I was. They sent me after Guile." Cammy's eyes went wide with shock.

"They did … what?"

Wagner shook his head. "I joke you not. They sent me after Guile – I attacked him while he was in the car. I just stepped out into traffic, right in front of him and …"

"Hold on," Cammy asked, raising her hand for him to pause, "you actually remember all this?"

"I was like a prisoner in my own mind. I could see the things I was doing, feel the emotions I was feeling, but it was like I had no control over myself. I was just a soul that could do and feel whatever I was being told. That's the best way I can describe it to you."

"Oh, Wagner! At least … at least you're alright."

"Maybe, but it's because of me that you saw Guile in that wheelchair, but he says he didn't hurt himself too much."

"Typical of him," Cammy said, rolling her eyes. "It sounds like he's alright."

"You didn't catch the guy on the stretcher who passed you just before we did, did you?" Wagner asked, speaking to Cranky this time.

"No," he replied. "But I caught them saying something about head trauma and a car crash …" Cranky stopped dead in the middle of his sentence, sensing something even worse lay beyond what he already understood of the situation.

"Dude, I hate to tell this to you," Wagner continued. "I'm really sorry but Guile wasn't the only occupant of that vehicle …" It didn't look like Wagner had to continue as Cranky seemed to understand, his face going pale, his mouth opening wide. Guile was on his way to meet Wolfman at the hotel, coming back from the house where they'd left Kenny. If there was anyone else that could have been in the car, Cranky's little brother could have been the only other person.

"What have you done?" Cranky whispered, the rage very apparent in his voice.

"It's not his fault," Cammy said, taking a hold of Cranky's wrist. "Please don't be angry with Wagner."

The turned to look at Cammy with hate in his eyes. His face was nearly as red as his hair. "H…how can you say that?" he almost yelled. Forcing his emotions aside, he combed his hair back with his fingers, simultaneously taking a deep breath. "No … you're right," he said. It was taking him considerable effort not to blow up at the news and Cammy had to admit, she was impressed. "Shadowlaw …" he spat the name out like it was poison. "Haven't they toyed around with people enough, already?"

"I can't count how many times I've said that to myself already."

"I'm really sorry," Wagner apologized again.

"I'm going to catch up to Kenny," Cranky said, ignoring the apology. He looked at Cammy with genuine concern in his eyes. He hated leaving her side but she understood.

"Go to him," she said, nodding. "Make sure he's alright."

**XXXXX**

"Well, fancy meeting you in here, Colonel." Ken Masters flashed Guile a smile while Eliza smacked him lightly on the shoulder. Ken didn't look as bad as Guile expected. He thought he would see the young millionaire unconscious on his bed with a heart rate monitor, wrapped from head to toe in bandages. Instead, the only bandaged area on Ken's body was his ribs and head. He left eye was swollen from taking a hit, but otherwise, he looked alright – except for a few cuts on his body, none of which looked deep.

"I heard about what happened to you," Guile said. "Mind telling me what happened?"

"Shadowlaw happened," Ken replied, "that's what. Now my turn to ask you."

"I got the same answer for you," Guile said. "Wagner."

"Julian." Ken nodded.

"That's just fucking unbelievable," Guile spat. "The first people the agents are sent after have to be the ones who are the dearest to them. Shadowlaw really goes the extra mile to make people's lives miserable."

"Tell me about it," Ken said, nodding in agreement. "Eliza was supposed to return to the States to take care of some financial business. Now since this happened, she's afraid to leave my side – like I'll die or something, if she's not here."

"I'm not leaving my man in the middle of a foreign country when he's hurt," she said, "especially in the middle of street fighter tournament that I never approved of you partaking in, and with an evil organization tracking your every move … I won't let you go through this alone!"

"Please, Japan is like a second home to me! I'll be fine."

"I'm not leaving you in this condition to go take care of money," Eliza said, stomping her foot on the ground. "I don't care if I had all the money in the world. But if anything ever happened to you …"

"Yeah, yeah," Ken said, waving her off, "let's not get emotional in front of the good Colonel, yeah, Eliza?"

"It's alright. Cammy and Wagner are pretty emotional themselves right now." Guile's adopted children stood at his bedside, perfect postures, staring straight ahead of them. The only hint of humanity they gave off was their facial expressions – they weren't completely blank. Guile was a military man and it was no surprised that he raised his children in such a manner. Cammy and Wagner seemed out of place, standing with squared shoulders at full attention in the middle of a hospital.

"What are you folks doing here?" Ken asked, tipping his chin at Cammy.

"I came with Cranky," she said, "to see you." Ken smiled that cocky smile of his again, the same one that Cammy had fallen with as a sixteen year old girl, but now resented as a twenty-four year old woman. Eliza frowned disapprovingly at Cammy's reasoning, but tried unsuccessfully to hide her envy.

"Oh, that redhead's here too?" Ken asked.

"I wouldn't talk," Cammy laughed.

"Hey," Ken interrupted, "strawberry blond, baby. There's a difference. Well, where is he?"

"He went off to see Kenny. The kid was involved in the same crash as Guile. But he came with me to … there's a few things he wants to talk to you about personally. I shouldn't be talking for him."

"Whatever floats your boat," Ken said, shrugging. "So is Kenny doing okay?"

Cammy, Wagner and Guile exchanged worried glances. "We don't know yet," Guile said, speaking for the three of them. "But we'll find out soon."

"I can't just sit around here waiting for an answer," Cammy announced, turning around, heading for the door. "I'm going to see how they're doing. Cranky looked pretty worried before he ran off."

**XXXXX**

"Master Bison, what are you doing?" Sagat nearly yelled as Bison manually severed the connection from Wagner to the Psycho Drive. "Wagner had Kenny in his grasp. He would have surely killed the boy if he were allowed to …"

"You display such little faith in my actions," Bison replied calmly, folding his hands onto his lap. He spun around in his swivel throne to face his right-hand man. "Think about it." Bison narrowed his eyes. "Would Wagner do us more good if he were to have killed Kenneth Feng in the middle of the road? The boy is useless. It doesn't mater to us whether he lives or dies. We want Ryu and the energy coursing through his veins. To achieve such phenomenal levels, we need him at an emotional peak – and killing Ken Masters and anyone else close to Ryu would achieve that. We want to hit the main street fighters, Sagat. And how would you suppose we do that?"

"Our agents would have to be in close proximity to the world warriors," Sagat said, rubbing his chin.

"Exactly," Bison grinned.

"Sir, that's …" Sagat was impressed with Bison's sniveling ways, despite the Muay Thai champion's disapproval. Nonetheless, his boss was good at what he did, and there was little doubt in Sagat's mind that he could've risen to such power by himself. "Surely you don't expect Wagner and Julian to get the job done by themselves."

"Of course not," Bison said. "They're merely serving as incentives for the street fighters to pursue me through the tournament. It will be a process of elimination, disqualifying those who are unworthy of facing me in battle."

"And we are to eliminate the rodents for you," Sagat said, running his orders through his head. "Vega, Balrog and I. But if you want to personally face Ryu in battle, how are you so sure he will make it through?"

"Ryu has been the champion of the tournament since it began fifteen years ago," Bison said, "from the first tournament you hosted through the trio of the Alpha tournaments. I have little doubt he will continue his legacy in the second official Street Fighter tournaments as well."

"But sir, I have trained long and hard for our match," Sagat said. "What if I were to defeat him in battle?"

"Then he would be deemed unworthy of the true power of the Psycho Drive," Bison explained. "But I'm not too worried about that happening."

"I … I don't understand," Sagat said, feeling a little attacked. "Are you saying you doubt I will be able to defeat Ryu?"

"You are a warrior who fights for vengeance," Bison said. "If it's rage that drives you, you will fail. And before your deluded quest for honor, you had an ego. Similarly, one who is too confident in himself will also fail."

"Permission to be dismissed," Sagat snapped, suddenly worried that if he'd stayed in Bison's presence any longer, he would snap and perhaps even attack his boss. That was something he didn't even want to risk, given the consequences he would receive being under the command of Shadowlaw.

"Permission granted," Bison said, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

**XXXXX**

Cammy found Cranky a few rooms down the hallway sitting motionless by Kenny's bedside. He had his back turned to her, too involved in whatever was running through his head to even notice her presence standing in the doorway. His shoulders were hunched over, his face buried in his hands. It was truly the most pathetic she had ever seen him, along the same level as she'd found him back in the hotel cafeteria earlier that evening. This was the second emotional downfall for Cranky in a matter of hours. He was sitting so still with his face in his hands that it was hard to tell he was even breathing.

Kenny was sleeping – or unconscious, she couldn't tell. His eyes were closed while the heart monitor beside him recorded his heartbeat with a steady rhythm of electronic beeps. The side of his face was stained with blood, though most of the dried crust had been removed. There was a large red spot on the side of his head seeping through the bandage. An IV had been inserted into his right hand, connected to a saline pack handing on a rack beside the heart rate monitor.

Cammy had taken a few seconds to absorb the scene and once she grew tired of it, she decided to get Cranky's attention. She knocked quietly on the door frame.

"Is he alright?" she asked.

Cranky looked over his shoulder to face her. But his eyes didn't make contact with hers. They looked sadly at her feet. It was a spitting image of how he'd appeared after Juli left him. The red eyes, the tear streaked face, the disheveled hair – Cammy's heart ached for him. How much stress could a guy go through in one day?

"I … I should've been there," he said weakly in a hoarse voice. He was a mess. She knew he had a problem showing his vulnerable, emotional side, but he was too worn out to even have the energy to hide it now. Cammy pulled up a chair beside him.

"There's no way you could have known …" she said softly.

"I'm a horrible friend … a worse brother …"

"No, no you're not." What else could Cammy have said? She wished there was something she could do besides sit here and listen.

"I left him in the care of Ken Masters while I got fucking drunk and screwed every girl that crossed my path. After being reunited after so long, I let this to happen to him. I should've been there for him, Cammy. Not just today, but for the past nine fucking years!" His hands were shaking and it took considerable effort for him to even swallow the saliva in his dry throat. "I wasn't there … all this time, all this goddamned time and what the HELL have I been doing!"

Cammy heard this before in their car ride over here – but it only occurred to her now that it was bothering him much more than she thought it was. She opened her arms to give him a hug but he fell into her like a collapsing house of cards. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "Kenny's important to you, I know. He's your brother, whether or not you're blood related. Nothing's going to change that. Kenny still respects you. He looks up to you and I get the feeling he always will, regardless of what you do."

"Oh God, no way in hell I deserve that kind of admiration, Cammy … And there's no way in hell I deserve you. I can't stay loyal to a girl, I can't even take care of my own brother and yet, the two most important people to me stick by my side …"

"Shh," she whispered, running her hand down the back of his head.

"I don't want to lose him to my mistakes," Cranky sobbed. "I almost lost you."

"You won't lose anyone," Cammy said. "Kenny will be alright."

"The fucker better be okay. If he makes it through this, Cammy, I will never do anything to lose either of you ever again. Do you hear me? _Never …_"

"Never," she repeated, verbally binding him to his promise.

"So help me, God…"


	19. Interlude: The Fight Is All

"I'm glad to see you're not hurt."

Ken eyed Ryu suspiciously, unused to seeing his friend so compassionate, so worried about his well being. Since the two of them trained together as children, it was true that they'd watched out for each other. But this was awkward even for Ken. He didn't like being treated like the little brother, but he acted enough like one to Ryu.

"Put a sock in it, man," Ken replied cheerfully, "it's gonna take more than a Shadowlaw agent to bring me down."

"If it wasn't for you," Eliza said, speaking up from the foot of Ken's bed, "I don't think Ken would've lived long enough to have met me." She looked gratefully at Ryu. "I'd tell you to ignore his talk but I'm sure you're used to it by now."

Ryu nodded, talking to Eliza but looking at Ken. "He's definitely got an attitude, but a spirit to match."

"Oh don't talk about me like that …"

"Once you get out of the hospital, Ken," Ryu advised, "you've got some training to do if you want to make it far into the tournament."

"Hey, you're looking at the U.S. Martial Arts Open champion," Ken bragged, jabbing his thumb into his chest. "I'd worry about how to keep my head on my shoulders if I were you, when we face each other in the finals."

"I'll be training hard too," Ryu chuckled. "Speaking of which, it'd be best if I headed out now. The rounds continue tomorrow and I don't think I've prepared myself enough yet, given all the events that have occurred today."

"Alright, buddy," Ken said, jabbing his friend in the knuckle, "you take care. I'll be seeing you shortly, once these people let me out of this place."

Ryu saluted Eliza with a quick wave of his hand and headed towards the door, exchanging goodbyes with Guile and Wagner on his way out. Ryu stepped out into the hallway, brushing past a few nurses on doctors in the midst of their busy schedules and headed for the elevator. He jabbed the lift button with a finger and waited for it to arrive to his floor.

While he waited, Ryu's thoughts drifted back to the events that had unfolded earlier today. Before arriving in Osaka, his plan was to participate in the tournaments in his never-ending search for a challenger capable of pushing his limits as a fighter – a challenger that could make Ryu break a sweat. He'd been living this way for as long as he could remember, enjoying the simple pleasures of life without having to worry about food and shelter. The prize money from the Street Fighter tournaments was his only income as he traveled the globe in search for a worthy opponent. The money didn't come pouring in very often but it was enough to sustain him for a good few years.

However after arriving for the tournament, expecting his life to continue as usual, Ryu's reunion with Ken grew to be bittersweet, after learning that his friend had destroyed Kenny's anonymity. The youth was never meant to rediscover his past. Doing so would only lead him to ask more questions, to dig deeper and find out who he was, attracting Shadowlaw's attention to him.

Ryu and Ken had kept an eye on Kenny during the past nine years, making sure he stayed as anonymous as possible, knowing well that they could get into trouble with the law. And yet, Ken decided to spill the beans on Kenny's past and even to this moment, Ryu couldn't figure out why.

And one thing led to another. Julian and Cranky get attacked by Akuma, the former is later kidnapped by Shadowlaw along with Kenny and Wagner, Guile's adoptive son. When it seemed to Ryu that all hope was lost, Colonel Wolfman of Delta Red contacts him with the good news of Kenny's rescue while simultaneously, Julian attacks Ken and Wagner assaults Guile and Kenny. It surprised him at first to learn of this, but knowing Shadowlaw, Ryu should've been expecting it. They were experts at ruining lives, after looking at what they'd done to Guile and Chun Li. He shouldn't have put it past them to go the extra mile, sending their newest agents after the people they held dearest. Ryu wondered if anything that had happened within the past week would've happened if Ken had never approached Kenny. Logically, it still seemed likely but he still wondered. After all, taking an event out of a series of them might somehow alter the future …

The elevator reached his floor with a gentle beep, as the doors slid open to grant him access. But Ryu paused. Just a few rooms down the hall from Ken, Kenny lay unconscious in a bed. Ryu learned of what had happened to him and Guile shortly after Guile's arrival into Ken's room. Kenny's injuries were supposedly severe, but not life threatening. Ryu glanced down at his rough, calloused hands and suddenly an idea struck him.

Would a chi transfer work? It was an idea tipping on ludicrous, consider a chi transfer wasn't considered effective, in medical terms. And here he was standing in the middle of the heart of everything medical. Ryu was skeptical when it came to modern science, having been raised traditionally his whole life by Master Gouken. If he was somehow able to strengthen Kenny's energy levels, perhaps the youth would wake sooner, and feel better once he did. His strength could work with whatever medicines were being injected into him. Ryu couldn't see any way a chi transfer would have a negative effect on Kenny.

He took a final look at the interior of the elevator and walked in the opposite direction where he'd come from. Kenny's room was only a few doors down from Ken's.

**XXXXX **

The doctor removed his glasses and wiped his glistening forehead with the back of his sleeve. He sighed and looked at Wagner with a weak, relieved smile. Wagner sensed his relief, letting him release some tension of his own.

"Your father is alright," the doctor said. "He's only suffered some minor bumps and bruises. We've got a few cuts from the glass, but otherwise, he should be okay. If it wasn't for his passenger, we could be looking at something alot worse."

"How is Kenny?" Wagner asked. He wanted to get a chance to thank the teen for what he did if he ever woke up.

"We've eliminated the possibility of brain damage," the doctor replied. "He's got a fractured skull and is out cold right now - concussion. But we think he's going to be alright in due time."

"Any idea when he'll regain consciousness?"

"Anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the severity. But he will recover. You have nothing to worry about. Our nurses are looking after him."

"Thank you very much, Doctor. I appreciate it."

The Doctor nodded his head in acknowledgement and walked away briskly down the hall. Wagner re-entered the hospital room where Guile sat in a bed, refusing to lie down in fear that his strength would degrade if he were to rest too much. Eliza hadn't left Ken's side, forcing him to lie down and not move around too much, not unlike a mother would to her son. But Ken had the energy and mood of a restrained child, moving around restlessly on the sheets.

"These are making me itch," he complained, scratching at the small of his back. "Get me the hell outta here. I need to get some fresh air."

"I'll open a window," Eliza offered, "but I want you to stay put."

"Man, if only Ryu was here, we'd be outside training for the tournament instead of letting my skills waste in here."

"Ryu would be telling you the same thing I am," Eliza countered. The closing of the room door caught her attention as she noticed Wagner walk in with a smile on his face.

"You're pretty happy," Ken commented.

Wagner turned to Guile. "You're both going to be alright," he said.

"Kenny too?"

Wagner nodded. His relief was obvious. He'd been suffering painful guilt after learning of what he'd done to Guile and Kenny. And if anything had happened to either of them, Wagner would never forgive himself.

His thoughts were interrupted as the room door slammed open with such force, it bounced off against the wall. It caught the attention of the four souls in the room, all eyes suddenly focused on the door frame, on the petite figure standing there hunched over, gasping for breath with a thin layer of sweat coating her face.

"Chun Li?" Guile asked.

"Glad to see you care about our well being too," Ken said.

"Where' s Ryu?" she demanded.

"What do you want with Ryu at this time of the night?" Ken asked. "He just left to go train for the tournaments tomorrow."

"He's in serious trouble," Chun Li explained. "I was just at the police station with Yun and he told me about Akuma ..."

"WHAT?" Ken nearly leapt out of his bed and onto the floor. "D…did you just say Akuma?"

Chun Li nodded gravely. "I just found out … the demon killed my Master Gen."

"But that's absurd! Ryu defeated Akuma in the Alpha tournaments. Didn't the demon perish in the Mt. Fuji explosion?"

"Master Gen's corpse is a testament against that theory," Chun Li spat bitterly. "No average fighter could even lay a finger on Master Gen, let along kill him. Whoever was responsible for this must be a powerful fighter."

"But how do you know it was Akuma."

"Yun saw it with his own eyes." Ken squinted to get a better look – he couldn't tell if that was sweat running down her cheeks, or tears. "And he's after Ryu next. We have to warn him. Which way did he go?"

"He's probably returned to the hotel," Guile said. "He only just left a few moments ago. You might be able to catch him in the lobby if the elevator's quick enough."

"Thanks, Guile. I'd stay but given the situation …"

"Just go and warn him!" Ken insisted.

**XXXXX**

Kenny's room was silent, with the exception of the heart monitor beeps. Ryu was slightly surprised at Cammy and Cranky's presence, the ex-Shadowlaw girl with her arms wrapped tightly around the boy's broad shoulders. His body was sturdily built, but right now it looked as limp as a dried leaf. Ryu couldn't sense any strength in Cranky as he leaned into Cammy, her small frame supporting his complete weight. His face was in his palms and his shoulders bobbed up and down ever so slightly.

Ryu's entrance caught Cammy's attention as he turned her head to face him, her green eyes wide as she looked at the Street Fighter champion.

"I … I must've come at an inappropriate time," Ryu apologized, feeling the prick of guilt. "I'll best be on my way." He should've known Cranky would be here. He'd taken care of Kenny when the two of them were homeless children on the city's streets. Ryu had taken Kenny away in order to protect the youth from Shadowlaw, who was a mere six year old back then. Though at the time he was unaware the kind of bond the two children shared. It had only become apparent to him today that Cranky and Kenny had missed each other dearly, going by the sheer excitement of their reunion earlier today at Wolfman's temporary home. Ryu was young back then too, having not fully considered the consequences of his actions. But thinking back now, he couldn't have changed a thing. Kenny wouldn't be safe had he continuing roaming the streets with Shadowlaw on his tail.

"Don't leave," Cammy said, interrupting his thoughts. "It would be best if we did. We've spent the last few hours here, and I think I'm in the mood for a warm drink. Would you like a few moments with Kenny?"

"I just came to check up on him," Ryu said. "I suppose I could watch him for the next little while, at least until you get back."

"Thanks," Cammy said, helping Cranky to his feet.

"Your brother will be fine," Ryu assured, putting his hand on Cranky's shoulder. "There's no need to worry about him." Indeed there wasn't. If the chi transfer went according to plan …

"I know," Cranky said weakly.

"And, Cranky … I'm sorry for taking Kenny away." A moment of silence fell between them for a few short seconds, and then Ryu continued. "But it was to protect him from Shadowlaw."

"Thanks for making sure he was alright," Cranky said, before leaving the room, keeping it short and sweet as the door closed gently behind him.

Ryu waited a few more seconds to make sure they were completely gone before he approached Kenny's unconscious form lying peacefully on the hospital bed. He took a deep breath and focused his energy into the centre of his body. At this point, he was the only conscious, living being in the room and didn't have much life energy to offer, but it would have to do. He placed his fingers on Kenny's temples and forehead and closed his eyes, continuing a steady breathing pace. Ryu closed his eyes and concentrated on the growing concentration of energy in his body, channeling it through his blood, through the heat of his body and towards his fingertips that were in physical contact with Kenny.

He could sense the energy in the youth's body – steady, but weak. He could also sense the remnants of the evil energy that once possessed him. Ryu broke contact momentarily. The Shadow Technology's presence was almost non-existent. Had Kenny's car accident destroyed the Shadow chip embedded into his spine? Had something happened to him in the time he spent at Shadowlaw's headquarters?

He'd find out later. Shaking the curiosity from his head, Ryu continued the chi transfer, finding his steady breathing pace, pressing his fingers gently into the youth's skull while the energy continued to flow. Ryu felt Kenny's strength return. His heart beat stronger, his breathing grew less shallow with every passing second, and as Ryu opened his eyes, he could see the color returning to his face.

Deciding that he'd transferred enough energy over, Ryu released Kenny and took a step back. Kenny's almond shaped eyes opened slowly at stared curiously at the ceiling, and then over at Ryu who stood at his bedside with his arms folded across his chest, smiling proudly. It had worked. Kenny was having trouble moving after lying still for so long but his eyes seemed to tell exactly what he was thinking, observing the blankets that covered his lower body, moving about the room, and then back at Ryu.

"W…what happened," he stammered, his voice hoarse and rough.

"Don't worry about it," Ryu replied. "You're awake now, and that's what matters to everyone."

"It was you, wasn't it?" Kenny asked, pointing at him.

"I helped a little."

Kenny smirked. "Thank you, Ryu. I really appreciate it."

"It wasn't much trouble."

"Hey …" Kenny looked down at the floor, thinking hard as if he had something important to say. "I just … wanna say sorry for … how I was talking to you earlier today."

An apology was something Ryu was certainly not expecting. "I completely forgot about it," he lied. "I'm just glad you were out there smart-talking me and not being exploited by Shadowlaw."

"I … I need to ask you something," Kenny announced.

"Uh, sure, what's on your mind?" Ryu cocked his head, waiting for the question.

"Why do you fight?"

Ryu didn't know how to answer that question, and it certainly had come out of the blue. What exactly was going on in that little head of Kenny's? Apparently, his stunned moment of silence gave Kenny the message that Ryu was confused by the question as he took a few more words to elaborate on what he'd meant.

"I mean, you obviously have trained your entire life. You seem like someone who's dedicated their lives to the martial arts. And you've won the every single Street Fighter tournament to date. My impression of Ryu, the champion of all street fighters was an untouchable fighting god. Yet you're here playing doctor to me and I gotta say, that's not what I expected of you. The good-Samaritan image was the last thing way I thought I'd ever look at you. Is this the real Ryu? Do you fight for the good of all people, helping the victims that Shadowlaw leaves in its wake, victims like me?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a good-Samaritan," Ryu chuckled. "And I haven't helped any other Shadowlaw victims that I can remember. I usually leave that to the authorities."

"So then, why me?"

"Honestly?" he asked. Knowing Kenny's personality, he wasn't going to like the answer, but Ryu explained anyway. "Honestly, I felt sorry for you. A six year old child living in cardboard boxes and stealing for money to get food?" He shook his head. "That didn't sit right with me. I was on orphan once too, you know. And I was fortunate enough to be raised by a kind, gentle man who not only fed and sheltered me, but who also instilled the beliefs I hold dearest. And Ken and I felt that this was a way we could give back to him."

"That makes sense," Kenny said, frowning in thought. "This guy that raised you … your father, I guess I should say … what does he think of your life decisions? I mean, does he like the fact that you beat the crap outta people for a living?"

"He's dead," Ryu said simply.

"Oh," Kenny said, choking on his own tongue. He cursed himself silently for sounding so insensitive. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to …"

"You didn't know," Ryu replied, shrugging off the comment. "The truth is I don't engage people in battle unless they want to challenge me. I travel around searching for one who does to test my skills, to point out my own weaknesses, to get a sense of the kind of diverse ways of thinking present in this world … I've learned a lot."

"Do you like it?"

"I do. Fighting has led me this far in life. The rush of a fight, the strength and endurance it demands are exciting, I'll admit. But the respect you get for your opponent and their capabilities, the restraint it requires to enable one to gain the upper hand – all of these lessons can be applied to everyday life. Fighting is more than a sport. It is also a discipline that I have based my entire life on. It has shaped me into the man I am today."

"I see."

Ryu frowned. This wasn't quite the reaction he was expecting. It surprised Ryu at just how passionate he could be when it came to talking about what he did for a living, and he hadn't realized how proud he could have been relating his philosophies to a young upstart like Kenny. If anything, Ryu thought the youth would be just as excited as he was, listening to the life lessons of an older person, let alone a street fighter champion. But Kenny reaction – or lack thereof confused and even disappointed him a little. But given the circumstances of Kenny's life, being alone for most of it, fighting would have definitely come into play as well – only with more at stake.

"You don't agree with it, do you?" Ryu asked.

Kenny shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't mean to attack you or how you've chosen to live your life. But for me … I've fought my whole life. I've scrapped with other street kids for meager pickings out of garbage cans. I used the money Uncle Ken gave me to start a new life in America but I fought there too. Those monsters in Angel Grove, the Umbrella disaster in Raccoon City … no matter where I went, trouble seemed to find me. And each time, I fought to live, fought to escape … I come back home to Osaka and Shadowlaw tracks me down. Fifteen years old and I'm sick of life already. I don't know how much longer I can carry on fighting like this."

"Life has different plans for everyone …"

Kenny continued, ignoring Ryu's words. "I look at someone like you – so free, free to go wherever you want with the world at your fingertips without anyone pursuing you – and of all the things you choose to do with yourself, you _fight?_ Why would anyone continuously choose to put themselves in harms way? It's just …" he shook his head, "…baffling. And to see you do this to yourself with no purpose other than just to fight – despite your freedom – it angers me."

"I can understand your frustration," Ryu said, pulling up a seat by the bed. "But what you are not taking into account is the fundamental differences between you and I. How you and Cranky survived was street brawling. The path I choose goes beyond the will to survive. You are a survivor. I am a warrior. We both fight, that is true, but the circumstances that led us to do so are completely different. You are talented, and you have the skills to become a great martial artist. I've seen you in action before. But the one thing you lack is the soul of a fighter. You only do so because you have no other choice. You just want to be left alone, am I right?"

Kenny nodded.

"And I fight because I learn from each battle. A battle is like a condensed version of life itself. Even when we are not physically engaged in battle, we are always at war with everything around us – how to provide food, social relations, even at war with ourselves. I understand why you have your views and I don't hold them against you, having a vague idea of what you've been through. But that understanding needs to be reciprocated, Kenny. I ask only that much of you."

"I'm sorry to have questioned you."

Ryu shook his head. "You have not made me question my own beliefs, only made me more secure with them. I'm glad we had the talk." Ryu got up from his seat and stretched. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Nah, I'm good," Kenny replied, holding up a hand. "I think this saline's keeping me hydrated enough …"

A slight rumble of the floor interrupted his sentence, causing the both of them to freeze. The lights in the room flickered on and off rapidly for a few seconds. Kenny gripped to the sidebars of his bed and looked around in confusion while Ryu grabbed the chair he once sat in and replanted himself into it. All the while, the shaking floor and the flickering lights never stopped.

"An earthquake?" Ryu asked aloud. He shot a glance out the room window and noticed the building across the street from the hospital. Given the narrow streets of the city, it was relatively easy to see what was going on. Silhouettes of people walked nonchalantly across the windows of steadily lit rooms. Nobody stumbled, grabbed for anything to hold onto, or even lose their balance. It appeared like they were carrying on their normal lives, like they didn't even feel anything. He instantly realized something was wrong. He looked at Kenny who looked back at him with a terrified expression.

And that was when they both felt it – the air in the room grew dense and heavy with the negative energy of pure evil. It was so strong, so powerful that it threatened to choke the both of them. The lights flickered one last time before dying completely, bathing the room in near-complete darkness, now lit up by the lights outside and whatever was able to enter from the bottom of the door.

"Get the doctors in here," Kenny said. Ryu shot up from the seat grabbed for the door handle and tried to open it – but it refused to budge.

"It won't open," he replied as he continued to struggle with the handle.

"Who locked it!" Kenny demanded.

"It doesn't feel like it's locked. It's as if …" he tugged at it one last time before releasing it violently, "… as if someone with an incredibly powerful grip is holding the handle in place from the other side …"

"That's not right," Kenny insisted, looking at the bottom of the door. There was no break in the light on the other side, no shadow that would stop it from getting into the room. "There's nobody on the other side of the door. HOLY SHIT!"

Ryu felt it too, at the exact moment Kenny made his panicked outcry. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight. The ominous air in the room seemed to have a life of its own, converging into the centre of the room. From his peripheral vision, Ryu could see Kenny staring at something, his whole body paralyzed with fear. There was a powerful, menacing presence standing right behind Ryu. He spun around to face it and came face to face with a set of glowing, fiery red eyes.

Someone spoke in a deep, rumbling, demonic voice that seemed to have come from the devil himself. _"I have found you …" _


	20. Chapter 15: Hospital Sabotage

Cammy looked at Cranky uneasily, noting that he hadn't moved nor said much since they'd gotten down here to the cafeteria, miraculously open at this time of the nine. He held a piping hot cup of coffee, rough calloused hands wrapped around a small, delicate paper cup. She got him to say a few words on their way down here from Kenny's ward but they were more like one word answers.

"It feels so good to get out of that cold room, don't you think?" she'd ask.

"Yeah," he'd reply, but it was closer to a grunt than a word.

Cammy sat and continued staring, feeling sorry for him but at the same time, slowly growing tired of him. Cranky was down and she didn't blame him for it, but damn it, he was bringing her down with him. She wanted to leave, to return to her apartment to catch some shut eye for the tournament tomorrow morning, but she knew she'd never sleep knowing Cranky was at the hospital worrying his head off about Kenny. She figured if she at least stayed with him, then Cranky would have someone to keep him company.

"It would be nice if you'd stop looking at me like that," Cranky suddenly remarked, catching Cammy completely off guard. She blinked a few times to grasp the fact that he'd just uttered more than short sentences to her and that he was now making eye contact with her. He smirked childishly and winked, continuing. "You're acting like you're walking on eggshells."

"Well I don't know how else to act, especially when you're in this state," she replied, choosing her words and her tone carefully. "And you haven't said much since we left Kenny's room so …"

"I don't know what to say when you're acting like I'm going snap if you say something wrong!" he said in defense. "Geez, you're making the atmosphere all awkward." He shifted in his seat as if to emphasize his point.

"Well if I knew you were feeling awkward, I wouldn't have continued being so sensitive."

"I mean, I appreciate it and all but I've cried enough for the day. It's like I've gotten a little too comfortable with my feminine side." The corner of his lip curled upwards shyly as he scratched the back of his head. "How's the coffee?"

"It's shit," she said, pouting slightly.

"You'd know."

"I was raised with the Guile family," she replied smartly, "so yes, I'd know."

Cranky suddenly froze, his brows wrinkled as if he'd suddenly plunged into deep thought. Or something was bothering him. Cammy tilted her head at him, looking at Cranky from the corners of her eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" she inquired.

"I … I'm not sure," he said, rubbing his forehead. "My body just suddenly went cold for no reason." He looked up at Cammy but she seemed oblivious to whatever he was feeling. "Did you feel that?"

She shook her head slowly. "Are you sick?"

"No," Cranky denied. "I … I'm fine. But I've got a bad feeling …"

"About what!" she asked, fed up with his strange behavior.

He suddenly shot up from his seat, his eyes wide with terror. The chair he'd just been sitting in stumbled backwards and crashed onto the floor with a loud bang, catching the attention of other patrons in the hospital cafeteria. "Cammy," he said, swallowing a dry lump in his throat, "we've got to go check up on Kenny. Right now!"

**XXXXX**

"Akuma, don't," Ryu insisted, holding his arm out protectively in front of Kenny. "Your concern is with me."

Akuma scoffed and folded his muscular arms across his broad chest. "As yours is with me. I care not for the child."

"This is not the place for a confrontation. The hospital is a place for the sick."

"A place for the WEAK. Nature should be allowed to take its course and eliminate all who don't have the skills to survive. Perhaps I will be doing the brat a favor by eliminating him right where we stand."

Ryu took a deep breath and widened his stance, placing his fists protectively in front of his body - a poise refined over the years of fighting, one that symbolized a lifetime of training, of accumulated strength, wisdom, and skill during the course of his life. Akuma reflected the gesture, only his stance was so powerful, so saturated with raw power and evil to the point where his mere presence was suffocating.

The purpose of Akuma's first attack was meant to insult, not injure. He slapped Ryu with the back of his hand but even the simple action knocked the younger fighter back a few steps, Ryu holding his hand to his cheek as hot tears seeped from between his eyelids. A devlish smirk crossed Akuma's features.

"All these years and you are no different than the young pup I encountered when Gouken defeated me. How he hoped to instill the true ways of our martial art, I cannot understand."

"Ryu!" Kenny scrambled out of his bed, his head injury slighty affecting his orientation. He rushed over to Ryu's side but was met with resistance.

"Get away from here!" Ryu barked. "Let me handle this!"

"But ..."

"If you're so insistent on engaging me, little one," Akuma said, "I welcome the opportunity to get a taste of your weak skills."

"I'll show you weak, asshole!" Kenny lurched forward, shoulder first in a quick shoulder check. He collided with Akuma's chest, who stood there open and vulnerable, and bounced off harmlessly, landing on the floor in a drugged up, weakened heap.

"Kenny, NO!" Ryu screamed. But Akuma was already advancing on the fallen youth, lifting him up into the air by the collar, staring straight into his wide, terrified eyes.

"My turn," the demon grinned. And he threw Kenny, tossing him across the room. He crashed onto the bed by the opposite wall, turning the contraption over. Kenny rolled onto the ground in a sad attempt to soften the impact from the momentum with which his body sailed, but the overturned bed landed on him with a loud metallic crash. Akuma waited a few seconds, but there was no movement from him after that. He turned his back on the defeated youth to face Ryu once again.

But he had turned to face a glowing ball of chi, smashing into his upper torso. Akuma stumbled but regained his balance from the impact. He tucked into himself, moving into a roll on the floor with inhuman speed and efficiency, coming up from under Ryu with a deadly three hit dragon uppercut, connecting with Ryu's jaw. The force threw his body up towards the ceiling before gravity took over and pulled him back towards the floor.

Ryu's body bounced off the floor and he landed swiftly on his feet, wiping a small trail of blood from his lower lip. He then jumped forward, somersaulted, and kicked his leg out sideways as he was coming out from his flip. Akuma blocked the strike with his forearm, used his free hand to seize Ryu from behind the knee, taking him to the ground. As the demon landed on top of Ryu, the younger Shotokan warrior dug his foot into Akuma's midsection and used the strength of his leg to throw his opponent off him.

**XXXXX**

Cammy and Cranky sprinted down the hallways of the hospital. The elevators had taken too long to come and the duo had decided to take the staircase, despite the long, hard climb. Cammy might have been genetically tempered with by Shadowlaw, the experiments turning her into a physically fit, young woman – but even she lagged behind Cranky as he ran, showing no signs of slowing down until he got back to Kenny's room.

It had happened so suddenly, Cammy didn't even have time to absorb what was going on. Cranky suddenly panicked for no reason that was obvious to her and just seized her by the wrist and began running. While they sped through the twisting corridors, running past doctors, nurses and patients alike while being sworn at with waving fists and middle fingers, Cammy tried desperately to ask him what was going on. But the only comprehensible words coming from Cranky were "We have to go," and "Kenny …"

Logic told her that Cranky was overreacting. After all, he'd had a rough day with Juli and all. And then finding out what happened to his brother hadn't exactly been pleasant for him either. This was surely his nerves and emotions running on overdrive and she wanted to prove it to him and tell him to calm down – but not at the rate they dashed like madmen.

Just a few steps ahead, Cranky dodged a woman dressed in blue, who looked like she was in a hurry herself. But Cammy was too close behind him to have registered the woman in time. The both of them collided in a messy clash of crunching bones and sweat. Both women fell to the ground clutching various body parts in pain.

Ahead, Cranky jerked to a stop and turned around. "Cammy, are you okay?"

"Ouch," the woman cried in pain, "where the hell are you two off to in such a hurry?"

As she stood, the couple could see it was Inspector Chun Li from Interpol, more famously, the Street Fighter tournaments. "I'm so sorry," Cammy apologized. "We're just … in a hurry to get somewhere." That's all she was able to relate, she herself unsure of their motivations."

"Me too," Chun Li explained. "You haven't seen Ryu by any chance, have you?"

"He's keeping an eye on Kenny for us," Cranky said, "but I've got this feeling something bad is about to happen."

Chun Li gawked at Cranky at his displayed clairvoyance. "H…how do you know …?" she asked, pointing a shaky finger at him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking back at her in confusion as he prepared to take off once again.

"Akuma's after Ryu …" Chun Li said. "The demon has just murdered the man who raised me since I was a little girl – a man searching for powerful opponents to pitch himself against. He succeeded in killing my Master Gen and now I fear he's after Ryu. And if you say he's with Kenny …"

"What!" Cammy cried.

"This is making too much sense," Cranky murmured, looking more nervous by the second. "Come on, we have to get to that room!"

**XXXXX**

They were both weak – Akuma standing on his two feet, slightly hunched over, struggling to maintain his composure. Ryu had almost sunk to his knees, breathing heavily. Both fighters had managed to land in some good hits on one another, but it was obvious that the fight could not be concluded in such a confined space as this.

"Leave now," Ryu ordered, but he knew it was useless. Hell, with the way he said it, it might as well have been a plea. "I'll say it again, Akuma. This isn't the time, nor the place."

"You're as quick as ever," Akuma commented, hiding his pride for Ryu deep inside. "The tournaments begin tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you in the final rounds."

"What?" Ryu couldn't believe it. Had Akuma actually signed up for the tournaments? That didn't sound right. He wasn't the type to stand in long lineups in the hot sun, in the middle of the city during daylight!

The demon nodded, the sadistic grin never leaving his face. "I look forward to facing you in battle, in an arena meant to contain both of our abilities, not in this weak, fragile place and it's inhabitants alike."

"Then what was your purpose of showing up here?" Ryu demanded. If Akuma hadn't come here to have their final battle, why did Kenny have to get injured – again? What was this sacrifice for? Was it even worth hurting the people close to Ryu?

"I wanted to see what I'd be up against."

"You're that sure I'll make it to the end?"

"Stop being so modest, you fool," Akuma snapped. "You and I both know you'll make it to the final rounds. The other fighters are weak, spoiled beyond comprehension in this material world. The rest rely on anger and revenge to motivate them to fight. They don't care for victory, or for what it means to be a fighter. Of everyone else, Ryu, you are the only one who is worthy of facing me."

Ryu hadn't a chance to say anything more, as a mysterious black smoke suddenly enveloped the demon's body. His body almost seemed to just warp away, leaving nothing behind but a trail of dark shadows. The ominous air lifted, as if having fled along with Akuma himself. All was quiet in the room now for a few seconds, until the lights flickered back on. Ryu blinked, his eyes trying to adjust quickly to the sudden brightness as he scanned the room for Kenny's fallen form.

The youth was just starting to come to, grabbing his head in pain. He grunted and groaned in pain, but didn't say anything otherwise. Ryu rushed over to help him up, tossing the wreckage of the other bed off his body. Ryu practically picked Kenny off the ground and stood up him on his feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Damn it," Kenny cursed. "I let him get too close."

Ryu smirked. "That was Akuma. Somehow, regardless of how you fight him, something tells me you'd lose whichever way."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Please don't be offended, Kenny, but Akuma …"

"I know, I know," Kenny said, waving his hand dismissingly at Ryu, "it was a joke! I don't think I could ever beat something like that!"

The door to the ward burst open, giving both Ryu and Kenny a jump. They spun around in alarm to face the intruders, relieved to see it was only Cranky who had … kicked the door open! It was off the upper hinge, sagging sadly from where it had been screwed into the doorframe.

From behind him, Cammy and Chun Li spilled into the room, looking around for any sign of foul play. But they could see none – except for the bed beside Kenny's, which now lay in pieces on the floor.

"What the hell happened in here?" Cammy asked, scratching her head.

"You're alright!" Cranky cried in relief, running towards Kenny, who only looked back in fear.

"Cranky, don't, please don't …" But it was too late for him. Cranky seized his teen brother, wrapping both arms tightly around Kenny's wiry frame, picking him up inches off the ground, while the youth could only wince in pain and struggle in futile. "Cammy …," he wheezed, "…help me!"

"Cranky, he's just been through a lot," Ryu chuckled, "I think you're killing him right now."

"Mind explaining what this is all about?" Chun Li asked Ryu, pointing out the wreckage of the bed sitting on the hospital floor.

Ryu's good natured smile suddenly transformed into a foreboding frown. He took a glance back at Cammy, Cranky and Kenny as they celebrated with relief, noticing oddly that the threesome looked like a happy family. Kenny sat on his bed while Cranky and Cammy leaned over, asking him all sorts of questions like two parents panicking that their only child had scraped his knee for the first time. Ryu turned back to Chun Li when he decided the three of them were out of earshot.

"Chun Li, you're not going to believe this," he said. "I think you may need to sit down."

"I'm fine standing," she stated plainly, perfectly clear she wanted him to say whatever he had to say, and to do it now.

"Nine years ago, you may or may not remember that crazy Shotokan martial artist that was after me …"

"Akuma's back," Chun Li interrupted, "I knew it."

"Who told you?"

"One of Master Gen's current students. He came from Hong Kong just to deliver the message to me that he's returned."

"But Akuma is a warrior who lives in the shadows. There's no way he would reveal himself to anyone unless he deems them worthy of a fight. Why would choose to communicate with your Master's students?"

"He didn't reveal himself to Yun," Chun Li explained. "Yun just happened to be there when Akuma … when Akuma …" She couldn't continue. Memories of her conversation with Yun back at the police station came flooding back. It had hit her again – Master Gen was dead.

"I'm sorry," Ryu said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Chun Li fell into him, as the tears continued falling one after the other from her eyes and down her face. Ryu was unused to so much human contact, but he seemed like a natural at comforting her. He rubbed his hand gently on her back. "I know how much Master Gen meant to you. But everything will be alright." Ryu knew exactly what was going through her head. His own Master Gouken had been brutally murdered by the very same man.

"I know it's going to be alright," Chun Li said through her sobs, "because you're going to defeat him." Ryu was taken by surprise by her words. She stopped crying when she didn't hear a response from him and looked up into his eyes. "You're going to destroy Akuma, won't you, Ryu?"

"Chun Li …" he said weakly, "I fought Akuma to avenge my master. Back then, I trained hard only for revenge, with no other goal in life but to see Akuma's blood upon my fists. But look where I ended up. My hatred and anger made me the perfect host for the Satsui no Hadou. Such negative emotions do nothing but hinder one's ability to improve their skills."

"But …"

"This is why you cannot go into battle with Bison the way you are right now. If you get angry, you lose control. And when you lose control in a match and you become desperate, you might as well forfeit the match. There is no way you're going to win."

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"That I'm not going to destroy Akuma for you. I won't destroy him for Master Gouken, for Master Gen, for all the people he's hurt and not even myself.."

"… What are you saying …?"

"I will destroy Akuma because he poses a threat to those I care about."

**XXXXX**

"They look like they're having a serious conversation," Cranky noted, staring blankly at Chun Li and Ryu, the latter holding the former gently by her shoulders. They spoke, looking at each other so intensely that Cranky could've sworn he'd ignite the entire room if he lit a match. Kenny and Cammy looked on as well, Cammy with her arm slung protectively across the youth's shoulders.

"He didn't just say what I think he did …" Cranky said, pointing at Ryu, who had now turned to face him, having released Chun Li from his hold.

"You heard me correctly," Ryu said. He tipped his chin in Kenny's direction. "Your brother saw it too, didn't you?"

"I don't know what the hell that guy was," Kenny added, "but it sure as hell wasn't human. At least, not as far as I could tell. You gotta believe us, Crank …"

"It was the same man who attacked Father Marquez and I back at the church." He rubbed his hand through his red hair and let out a sigh. "God, this is so convoluted. Everything's going wrong all at once."

"Seems like someone up there really has it in for us," Cammy agreed. She looked to Ryu, expecting him to have some kind of answer. "What do we do?"

"There's not much we can do," he admitted. "We attend the tournament just like we signed up for and just … take it from there. Whatever comes our way, I suppose."

"With Ken out of the picture?" Cammy asked. "I don't know if we can afford that, especially since I don't know if I've even been accepted in the ring of new challengers yet."

"One way or another," Chun Li said, stepping into the conversation, "we will make it through this. I owe it to my father."

"Well I'm not going to sit on your coat tails to victory," Cammy insisted, "whether or not I make it into the tournaments. It's clear as day your life isn't the only one that's been screwed over by Shadowlaw. Even if I don't make it into the tournaments, I'll find someway of helping through Delta Red."

"Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that, anymore," someone said from the doorway, catching everyone's attention.

"Wolfman?" Cammy asked, recognizing the large build of her commanding officer, taking up the width of the door frame. He smiled cheerfully at her. "I was about to kill someone waiting at the hotel for Guile when the rest of the team got back to me and told me what'd happened."

"I'm sorry," Cammy apologized, "so much has been going on that I completely forgot to let you know … It's just that we had something else's happened here tonight …"

"What?" Wolfman asked, his eyes showing concern for his young soldier. "Are you okay?" He took Cammy by the elbows gently.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"There's a new occurrence going on in the tournament," Ryu explained, "but I don't think any of it concerns Delta Red." He subtly aimed the comment at Cammy, implying his personal revenge he saved for Akuma alone, not wanting her to get involved with her official matters. Chun Li took a step back from Ryu as if to emphasize his point. Despite her personal vendetta against Akuma, Bison took priority on her list. That – and the fact she wasn't quite ready for a force like Akuma yet …

Cammy was about to ask Ryu why, but she was suddenly interrupted by Wolfman. "I have you news for you, Cammy." The words made her completely forget about what Ryu was talking about, as curiosity suddenly took precedence. "I just got word from the tournament heads that you have been accepted as a late comer in the Street Fighter circuit. Congratulations." Her blue eyes went wide with joy. She brought her fists to her chin and squealed like a child who just got a toy for Christmas, kicking her heels up and running on the spot excitedly.

"I … I made it into the tournament!" she asked. Her face was turning red now, and she was wheezing from shortness of breath.

"I knew you could do it, girl!" Cranky said, wrapping his arms around her. Cammy launched herself at him, throwing her legs around his waist. He brought his lips to hers and the two of them shared a deep kiss right in front of everyone. Wolfman folded his arms across his chest and sniffed back a tear of joy. Chun Li smiled over at Kenny, the youth would've surely been proud of Cammy and Cranky as well, but instead found Kenny sticking his finger into his mouth towards his throat, dramatizing a comical regurgitation.

"She had a lot riding on this," Ryu noted to Chun Li.

"Looks like it," the Interpol Agent agreed.

**XXXXX**

Bison waited impatiently, arms folded tightly across his broad chest, lips pressed hard into a tight frown. His cape drooped over his shoulders, emphasizing the dictator's menacing frame, lip up from underneath by a faintly glowing liquid contained in a large, metallic framed vat. Thick slabs of glass embedded into the metal frame served as window into the strange substance, emanating that almost holy looking light. However it was anything but holy in this place, somewhere in Japan's vast mountain chains, deep in the heart of Shadowlaw's base.

"Anytime now," he said quietly to himself. The procedure was nearly complete, one that had taken the better half of a decade to complete. And now the wait was finally over. Just a few more minutes…

Behind Bison stood the majestic, reassembled Psycho Drive, believed to have been destroyed in the third and final Alpha tournaments. The core emitted a purplish light, tinting everything within a few feet of it with its life draining color. It was cylindrical in shape, six feet in diameter and around eight stories in height, reaching far above into the dark ceiling. Dark metal fasteners bolted the Psycho Drive into the wall, while a silver exoskeleton prevented any force from rupturing the glass core.

"Everything's coming together nicely," Bison said, hardly containing his glee. The resuscitation process is nearly complete, after all these years of waiting." Beside Bison stood the tall looming figure of Sagat, his right hand man. Bison owed a lot to Sagat, the Muay Thai fighter being the muscle behind many of Shadowlaw's operations – aside from their private army. He could've single-handedly taken care of many of Shadowlaw's missions, but with such fighting skill, such strength and agility for someone his size, Bison would've lost a lot in Sagat if he were to be killed in battle.

"I don't know why he's of so much importance to you, my Lord," Sagat said, rubbing the stubble of his chin. "He's contributed much to our growth as an organization, but his usefulness ended along with his life."

"That was partially my mistake," Bison replied. "I don't say this very often, but I was younger back then. I should've handled the situation differently. Given the chance to go back in time, I would never have allowed him to tackle Cammy, Guile and Wagner on his own. A group of soldiers as backup would've never provided efficient backup against them. I underestimated Cammy's abilities, and Guile's experience in battle. Combined, they were far too much for him to handle – and it showed."

Sagat nearly let out a gasp at hearing Bison admit his mistakes. Bison was always a cold-hearted, but extremely efficient leader, even a dictator some people might say. He was remorseless, unforgiving, and most of all, he did not tolerate weakness. Had he not been like this, Shadowlaw would've never expanded to the kind of organization it was now, in just over a decade regardless of the kind of scientific talent and military muscle they had at their disposal.

"I have never thought any of your actions to be unwise," Sagat said, although it was a slight exaggeration of his most honest opinions. Like the Dolls, for example … "I, for one, am grateful to have you as a leader."

"Cease the sucking up, Sagat," Bison snapped suddenly, completely out of sync with everything else he'd said thus far, "I'm not used to hearing you talk like this and it's making wonder if you've gotten weak."

"My apologies, sir."

"Now that we've developed two fully functional soldiers from the Agent Initiative program," Bison said, changing the subject, "it's time to start assembling a true army, one consisting of Street Fighters worthy of the program. The tournament starts tomorrow. We will then be able to gather data on their true fighting abilities."

"What of the two Agents we have?"

Bison paused for a moment, wondering what Sagat was referring to. And then he remembered suddenly, a light bulb turning on in his head. "Once we have the first true Agents active, we can dispose of Wagner and Marquez, unless of course they prove to be of further use. Phase one of Shadowlaw's reconstruction project is coming along nicely. Have you anything to report on phase two?"

"Yes," Sagat replied. "The Feng twins are rising steadily in our ranks. The boy has just been promoted to Admiral, and the girl is the one responsible for patenting the Agent Initiative, based on the research material we were able to retrieve from her father."

"Ah, Dr. Tai Su Feng," Bison said, reminiscing about the times when that brilliant scientist was first hired into Shadowlaw's scientific branch. That was around fourteen years ago, and Bison credited him with much of the organization's scientific advancements, many of it based on the now defunct Shadow Technology that had failed. The finished product itself was a failure, as proven in Interpol Agent Chun Li, and Charlie Nash of the United States Air Force. But his research in itself was what the current scientific branch based a lot of their projects on. "Even in death, he is still useful to us."

"Like father like … daughter." Sagat hesitated, realizing that wasn't how the idiom went. Whatever the case, it was true. Dr. Feng's illegitimate daughter was following powerfully in her father's footsteps. Only this time, he was sure she would do nothing to betray the company like he did. And the girl's twin brother – one of Shadowlaw's most elite infantrymen – had risen from lowly grunt, to sergeant, to captain, and then transferred over to Shadowlaw's own private Air Force and had just been promoted to admiral.

"Why have I not been notified of these two?" Bison asked. It was posed as more of a question, not an angry outcry that was more typical of his character. "To think that they are playing such an important role in rebuilding our organization, I should've at least met them face to face a long time ago!"

"You did, sir," Sagat corrected, "when they were recruited shortly after Dr. Feng's assassination."

"Oh … I must've momentarily forgotten," Bison said, making an understatement so exaggerated, it was sinful. "No matter!" He threw his hands outward, magnificently spreading his cape so that it no longer hung over his shoulders. "I wish to see the twins as soon as they are available. I wouldn't want to interrupt their important work."

"I will send word immediately," Sagat said, bowing his head. Their conversation had come to a natural end, at least regarding this topic and the glowing pool of liquid at their feet suddenly dulled, losing its energy with the perfect timing to move onto another topic.

"It is complete." The mechanical hum of machinery at work filled the air, causing the metal grated platform on which Bison and Sagat were standing upon to vibrate just a little. The surface of the mucus like substance rose, shaping to indicate a human-like form just lying beneath the surface. Eventually, the form – the body – broke the surface, as the mucus peeled back slowly to reveal a naked body, the dull light of the room glinting off the thin sheen of slime coating the skin.

It was the body of an effeminate man lying there, displayed in its natural state in front of Sagat and Bison. His face was that of a porcelain doll with a pale, flawless complexion, rounded, pursed lips red as an apple, naturally long and thick eyelashes, and silky strands of long hair resting beneath his head. His body was built thin and lean, striations in the muscle clear underneath the skin. Dead for eight years and he was still looking as healthy as ever. Shadowlaw had truly destroyed the barrier between life and death – another ability Bison credited towards the Dr. Feng's research, leading up to the Shadow Technology's development.

Suddenly, the body came to life. The chest rose and fell, subtly at first but then quicker as air filled the corpse's lungs, as life flowed through its veins. His eyes fluttered open, not unlike a beautiful princess, waking from a century's worth of sleep and not aging a day. And then, a few short moments after coming to life, it spoke.

"L…lord Bison," it stammered. Having not spoken in so long, it was no wonder it was having a hard time remembering how to talk, as it got reacquainted with what it was like having complicated muscles like a tongue, lips, breath and teeth to contend with when trying to sound out simple words.

"Welcome back, Vega," Bison said, smiling with glee.

**XXXXX**

"Are you going to be alright here by yourself?" Cranky asked. Kenny only stared back at him angrily, fists balled with anger by his sides. Cranky couldn't figure out why his adoptive little brother was throwing such a tantrum. He was young once, but he still couldn't figure out the teenage mind. He cared about Kenny's safety. Why would anyone be annoyed to be fortunate enough to have someone looking out for them? And of all people, Kenny should be the most grateful, having been on his own for most of his memorable life.

"Gee, well considering I've been on my own for what … nine years now?" he replied sarcastically, "no, Cranky, I can't survive one night at a fucking hospital being pampered to up my brows."

"Well I want you to call me on my cell if you need anything."

Kenny frowned. It had taken an eternity to convince Cranky not to spend the night watching over him. Kenny wanted to crawl into a hole and die in embarrassment, especially when Cranky came up with his bright idea with everyone present. He wasn't six damn years old anymore! Ryu, Chun Li and Uncle Ken could wrap their minds around that fact. Why the hell couldn't Cranky! But then Kenny got the bright idea of taking Cammy aside and asking her to help him out by luring his brother away with sex.

It had worked faster than a light switch and a bulb. All it took Cammy was ten seconds outside the hospital ward in the hallway and Cranky came rushing back in, his face as red as his hair, telling Kenny how something had come up and how it didn't feel right for him to just leave Kenny alone but there was no other choice. He told Kenny to sit tight and endure the night alone.

"I'll be alright!" Kenny insisted, waving his brother away and goodnight with one motion of his hand.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" Cranky said happily, giving Kenny a tight hug, a pat on the back, just before dashing out the door, pulling Cammy along behind him. She looked back at the youth and mouthed the words, "You owe me."

"Thank you," Kenny mouthed back.

"Well I guess we'll be headed out too," Ryu suggested.

"The tournament begins tomorrow, and we've still got a lot of training to do," Chun Li added. She sighed. "And a lot of official work, too."

"Hey if you need to know where the Shadowlaw base is located," Kenny said, "why don't you get the information off Colonel Wolfman? He was the one who found me there."

"I've thought about it," Chun Li replied, remembering she just had a chance to ask the good Colonel a few minutes ago before he left, shortly before Cammy and Cranky made their exit. "But then I figured him consulting his records would be a waste of time and effort, considering that knowledge wouldn't benefit me as a participant in the Street Fighter tournament. The whole point is not to raise Shadowlaw's suspicions and my presence at their base would certainly raise some."

"But isn't your whole goal to help take down Bison?" Ryu asked her curiously.

"I want to take him down with my bare hands," she replied, curling her fingers into vicious looking claws. Despite her formal martial arts training, there was that feminine fighting instinct showing through, the natural tendency for biting and scratching." And breaking into the Shadowlaw base and taking out his goons won't do that for me. But making it through the tournament and fighting him in the final rounds …"

"I understand," Kenny nodded.

"Thanks for the thought, though."

Ryu and Chun Li bid Kenny farewell and headed towards the elevators down the halls. Ryu had stayed much longer than he'd originally intended, having that honest discussion with the youth, and Akuma having attacked them when they least expected it and all. He could feel the day's events getting to him – being informed by Wolfman that Delta Red had found Kenny safe and sound, discovering his best friend and rival Ken Masters on the floor bleeding from his wounds after being attacked by Julian Marquez, running into Guile and Kenny at the hospital after they'd been simultaneously attacked by Guile's adoptive son, Wagner … it was too much to happen in one day. He thought he would pop into Ken's ward and say goodbye, but realized he'd already done that before he made the impulsive decision to check on Kenny, before they were ambushed by Akuma.

But the day wasn't finished with Ryu yet. He realized that he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that Chun Li had asked him a question. She looked at him with a questioning expression on her face, her head cocked slightly to one side as if leaning her ear closer to him in case he decided to respond to her. Ryu blinked his eyes as he snapped back to reality.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" he asked.

"I said, it's cold outside," she repeated. "Do you need a ride back to the hotel?"

"No thanks, it's only a short walk," he replied. "I'll be …" Ryu whipped his head sideways to look over his shoulder, as if someone were approaching from behind. He glanced up and saw nothing but the hospital's fluorescent lights, and then right. Yet, he saw nothing.

"What's the matter?" Chun Li asked. But then she noticed it too. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood up straight. Goosebumps formed on her body as she began to notice the surge of negative energy.

"It's like when Akuma …" Ryu began, but never finished his sentence.

"It's not him," Chun Li interrupted. "This chi … it's not natural."

"Electric," Ryu agreed, "like it's being produced by some kind of … machine."

**XXXXX**

Ken had just deposited a few coins into the slot in the vending machine, his mouth watering as a bag of cheddar flavored corn chips caught his attention. He dug around in his pockets for the money, knowing that there'd be enough there. He'd developed a habit of keeping change on him wherever he went because one would never know when it was a necessity, whether it came to parking meters, paying off untalented street musicians to shut the hell up, a quick coffee, or some junk food like in this instance. Besides, after having trained so intensively and eating only the healthiest, grossest meals he'd ever tasted from Eliza's vast culinary menu, he figured he deserved at least a bag of cheddar corn chips. Besides, it wasn't like they filled the bag all the way up to the top, those money-hungry snack manufacturers.

He bent down to retrieve his prize and stuck his hand in the slot to grab a hold of the bag. Ken grimaced every step of the way, his healing wounds sending waves of shooting pain all over his body. He wished Eliza was there to kiss his pain away. Her gentle, caring nature and the sensation of her lips on his skin was enough to distract any man, no matter his state of suffering. But he had instead sent her back to the hotel to stay with Ryu for the evening. Their suite was in no condition to be slept in after today's attacks, and she needed the rest. Eliza talked about canceling her flight back to the States to remain by Ken's side but he would have none of it. They needed someone back home to take care of financial situations with their property and their business.

Ken shook his head in disbelief at how his life had changed in the past few years. He'd met Eliza shortly after breaking up with Cammy. Cammy was his first serious love but they both decided they weren't for each other. And in that frustration towards Cammy, and perhaps his lust for women, it didn't take long for Ken to set his sights on Eliza. The only thing that didn't work in the relationship at first was her outlook on fighting. Because she was so gentle and caring by nature, she had a hard time accepting Ken's lifestyle – fighting in martial arts competitions for money and fame. And she wasn't a big fan of his ego, either. But something about him won her over, and to this day, Ken had no idea what he'd done to get so lucky, but he wasn't about to complain.

Because he was raised alongside Ryu by the same sensei, a lot of Ken's philosophies had revolved around the fight. The only difference was that Ken came from a privileged family and he knew there was an outside world to take advantage of. Ryu, on the other hand, was taught that the fight was all, and that was all he knew. Despite his ultra-modern lifestyle, Ken still held the same values close to heart, and Eliza had a hard time relating to those values. To her, the fight was all about hurting others to satisfy a primal barbaric instinct among men. It had taken a long time for Ken and Eliza to understand and respect each other's views and that was where they were at today. Years ago, Ken probably wouldn't be in a Street Fighter tournament. He wouldn't have a United States to send Eliza home to because they'd be there already.

Ken ripped open the chip back and stuffed a handful of the orange crusted chips into his mouth, marveling at the taste. It instantly brought him back to the time when Kenny lived with them, when the youth was still suffering from amnesia at the young age of six. After he'd been dropped off at the Masters estate, surprisingly by Sagat of all people, Ken had been taken aback that he hadn't a clue what to do with young Kenny. After consulting with Ryu, they came to the conclusion that it was best that the child stay with them until they could find some sort of adoption agency, much to Eliza's elation. The sheer thought of a child as young as Kenny at the time, living alone on the streets with nobody to back him up horrified her. Besides, Ken could tell she wanted to keep him, at least for a little while.

Kenny also stayed at the Masters residence for a year. During that time, the amnesia attacks would happen every so often. He would remember the events up to the last attack, go to sleep and go through another, and his memory would be wiped clean again. Ken and Kenny would often sit in front of the TV every Friday night and on weekends and stuff their faces full of junk food into the early morning hours. Words would not bring Kenny's memory back, but somehow, the taste of the junk food – mainly cheddar flavored goodies which Kenny took a liking to – would jolt his memory, but nothing too significant.

Ken looked up from the bag of chips in his hand, sensing he was about to walk into an approaching person and stopped dead in his tracks, throwing his bag of chips to the ground. It was the same sight he saw earlier this afternoon, standing in front of him, blocking his passage through the dim, narrow passageway leading out of the cafeteria. The man's body was tall and powerfully built, judging by the size of his silhouette. It was his eyes that Ken instantly recognized as the last thing before he blacked out and woke up with the ambulance staff around him. He could feel his body instinctively sink into a fighting stance after so many years of training and this time, he would not be caught off guard by the familiar, once-friendly face. He could only guess at what was going on behind those cerulean blue eyes.

**XXXXX **

Wagner looked up from the book he was reading. It had been strangely interesting for a novel found crumpled at the bottom of a magazine stack. Wagner pulled it out because it was the most intelligent looking thing in comparison with the fashion and housekeeping magazines that dominated the racks.

He'd only made it through the first chapter when he looked up from the pages at Guile, sleeping soundly in front of him on his bed. Wagner smirked. And to think that just a few minutes ago, he was bitching and complaining to the doctors that he felt fine. But he respected the hospital's decision to keep him for observation overnight. Try as Wagner did to reason with his father, Guile would listen to none of it, continuously insisting that he felt fine. He couldn't understand why Guile hadn't realized he'd just been through a damn car crash. Me might have felt fine now, but who knew what other complications could've occurred as a result later on? At least if they were to happen, he'd be in the hospital and not in his hotel. In the end, all the resisting had taken a toll on his aging but healthy body and he'd fallen asleep instantly like a baby … or an old man.

Wagner had lost interest in the book, as his blue eyes scanned the room like a sharp, experienced soldier. Only he wasn't looking around for threats. He was looking for someone to talk to, despite knowing that there was nobody here, a lesson he'd learned on the battlefield – your eyes don't reveal everything about your surroundings. Ken had gone downstairs to look for food and his wife left before that. Guile was sound asleep on the bed leaving Wagner as the only conscious thing in the room. But not for long …

It started as a sharp pain behind his eyes. He closed them tightly and pressed his fingers against his temples, hoping to curb the pain, but his attempts were futile. He could've taken a hammer to his own head, but it would've been nothing compared to what he was feeling. The novel fell from his hands and clattered to the floor in a heap of folded pages, but he took no notice. The pain was threatening to render him unconscious but Wagner held on for dear life. As soon as he gave in to it and stopped fighting to hold onto his own consciousness, even for a split second he noticed that the pain would subside.

Then he noticed what was happening. He'd noticed it before and he thought it was over. But it was still inside him. Whatever Shadowlaw had done to him, it was coming back. If he let go of his consciousness, the pain would recede, that was true. But he would also lose control of his own body and be a prisoner in his own mind, watching his body from behind his eyes do things he had no control over. Then he noticed Guile lying beside him, fast asleep, completely vulnerable.

Shadowlaw must've kept some kind of a tracking device, or a camera on him. The timing was too perfect for them. Right after him and Guile were left alone, the Agent Initiative technology was activated. Shadowlaw wanted him to kill his own father, it was becoming more and more obvious. But upon realizing everything, Wagner immediately regretted it. All that thinking had distracted him from concentrating on holding on to his conscience and control of his own body. Ironically enough, it was his thinking that cost him his consciousness. Regret. That was the last thing running through his mind before it closed around him, trapping him once again in its depths as he witnessed his body take a life of its own.


	21. Chapter 16: A Good Deed

Ken was ready for battle this time, his body poised, fists raised protectively in front of his body for any attack Julian might deliver. But he didn't want to engage in battle if it could be avoided. He wanted to find out what was wrong, although he had a pretty good idea with Shadowlaw tampering with Julian's mind.

"Julian," Ken said slowly, not wanting any aggression to show in his voice, "are you feeling okay?" Julian Marquez stood with one arm supporting his body against a wall. He breathed heavily with effort, looking as if he might need some help, but Ken was smarter than to just run over to his friend's side, especially after what happened earlier that day.

"K…Ken," Julian stammered weakly, "I'm sorry for what happened today. I … I can explain, really."

"No need to, buddy," Ken replied, "I have a good idea what happened."

"Please, Ken," Julian continued, "you have to get out of here. Shadowlaw's sent me after you. They want you dead, and I've been ordered to do the dirty work. Please, I'm fighting it as much as I can but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold out."

"I won't leave you, Julian," Ken said stubbornly. "You have to continue fighting them. We'll find out what's wrong, and get Shadowlaw together!"

"No … you have to – GRAAGGH!" Julian's body began trembling violently. His hands clawed at his face, as if something inside of him was threatening to burst out. The veins in his face rose from his skin, a thin layer of sweat coated his entire body. His face began turning a dangerous shade of scarlet.

Ken was on high alert, but his instincts screamed at him to get in there and help his friend out. Between his mind and his conscience fighting each other for control of his body, Ken ended up just standing there, watching Julian degrade from a loyal friend to a despicable agent of Shadowlaw.

When Julian looked up at him again, all humanity was gone from his eyes. His face displayed a mere disregard for the life of a fellow human, let alone a friend. His composure returned, standing up tall, walking slowly, menacingly towards Ken with a look of indifference in his eyes. His hands balled up tightly into fists as his steps became wider.

There was going to be a fight here, right now, Ken could feel it. But he still tried to talk his way out of it, hoping there was some way he could save himself from hurting his friend – or vice versa.

**XXXXX**

She took off the glasses from her face, smeared with dirt and grease, setting it down on the table in front of her. Their removal revealed the true beauty of this woman's face. She had a round jaw, high cheekbones and narrow eyes with just a little bit of mascara. Makeup was something she didn't put too much effort into. Her complexion was milky, smooth and utterly flawless ... except for that zit forming just off the corner of her mouth. Her ruby lips were naturally pursed, adding colour to contrast the jet black hair she normally kept tied into a neat bun at the back of her head. She removed the name tag from the breast pocket of the knee length lab coat, revealing curved, shapely calves. The tag, reading "Katarina Feng" remained beside the gross, greasy glasses as she walked off into the change room adjacent to the lab, taking off her coat along the way.

The private speaker to the lab sounded.

"What is it?" she asked, her tone annoyed and irritated. 

"I need to speak to you, Doctor," a voice replied from the other end.

"Not now, I'm busy," she replied sharply. Katarina shook her head, sighing outwardly. When would her subordinates ever learn to do things on their own? It was a wonder why Shadowlaw ever agreed for these morons to be a part of the scientific division. They were useless, constantly surrounding her, scribbling illegible notes in their notebooks, confusing the most basic of terms with one another. She was never like that, and she doubted her father was either.

The late Dr. Tai Su Feng, Katarina's father. She'd heard wonderful things about him, and the contributions he made to Shadowlaw. He was a great man, true, but she refused to believe that she was only hired because of her blood relation to him. She was pulled into the greatest scientific ranks of Shadowlaw because of her talent, passion, and respect for the sciences. She gazed adoringly at the picture frame of the man who brought her into this world, a faded photograph taken at least a decade ago. Her superiors who'd worked with her father had told Katarina she got his nose from him. But the rest of her beautiful, delicate porcelain features were inherited from her mother – a woman she'd heard a lot less about.

The mechanical whirr of the sliding doors snapped her out of her momentary daze, and Katarina's anger flared. She might have been petite and delicate in appearance, but she had a temper that nobody would want to suffer the wrath of. She stormed towards the door, preparing a intense bitch-fest in her head for whoever dared enter her private laboratory without her permission.

And then she stopped dead in her tracks. The man standing before her – she could recognize that handsome face, the thin, muscular, but simultaneously effeminate build of him anywhere. But there was a problem. He was supposed to be dead. In one of his well-manicured hands, he held a white rose, running its immaculately curved petals gently under his thin nose.

"My lady," he said, bowing to her ever so slightly.

"V…Vega …" Katarina's normally pale face turned sheet white.

"I can't describe the pleasure," he said, handing the rose over to her, "at having the honor of beholding beauty such as yours, especially after all these years."

Katarina was speechless. Vega – the only man who ever meant anything to her besides her brother was standing before her after eight years of supposedly being dead. How was this possible? She wasn't given enough time to ponder the possibilities as he made a move for her, took her slender body into his arms and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply. Katarina closed her eyes and lavished in the moment. Had it been any other man, she would've most likely kneed him in the groin and violently shoved him to the ground. Only Vega could do this to her, arouse her animal instincts within such a short time frame.

"You're back?" she asked. The question was partly rhetoric, her brain trying to tell her that this was but a dream. But the warmth of his kiss was too real. His arms around her, hers around his – it was all too concrete.

"I am, my love," he replied, "and better than ever. Just in time, too. Shadowlaw is about to make its rise to glory once again through the street fighter tournament. And I'm told a lot of it has to do with you."

She blushed. "I've just activated the AI technology within our prototype soldiers," she explained. "Bison's wish to have the street fighters tested beyond their limits is only a step away from materializing. All it takes is a push of the button."

"And those who do not meet his requirements for the new wave of Shadowlaw agents will be destroyed," Vega added.

"Regardless," Katarina continued, changing the subject, "it's good to see you again. I thought I lost you."

"Blame in on the Killer Bee."

"I've been training hard," Katarina said. "I've haven't rested a day since your passing, learning the Shadowlaw secret arts, perfecting my skill just so I can get my hands on her."

"She was the one who thrust my own claw into my chest," Vega recalled bitterly. "And to think I once regarded her as the physical embodiment of beauty. But her mind – or lack thereof – it changes a lot." He then looked into Katarina's eyes. "But you, my lady, you are far superior to her. And I can't help but think your loyalty to me is undeserved."

"I will destroy the Killer Bee with the very fighting style she employs. But before I do that …" she smiled mischievously at Vega.

"Now this, this is what I love coming back to."

"Fuck me."

**XXXXX**

Guile had been sleeping soundly, his mind lost somewhere in the deep, enveloping darkness. It was serene here, where he could rest without letting his mind worry over Shadowlaw's recent developments. He dreamt of the days when Cammy was still living under his roof, along with Wagner, Jane and Melissa. He fondly remembered Cammy and Wagner's childish bickering every morning at the breakfast table, her sense of adventure passed down to her from her father. He remembered coming home to their parties, being severely pissed off at them for not notifying him before hosting a social event where they and their high school peers would get drunk out of their minds.

He had been angry at them at the time. But now, with Wagner graduating from college in a degree in psychology, and Cammy working in the UK with Delta Red, he began to miss his children – adopted or not. Melissa was finishing high school soon and it was only a matter of time before she joined Cammy and Wagner and left the nest. His children, the beloved kids he and Melissa had raised, despite Jane's initial protests had all grown up. And now that Jane had gotten to be attached to them too, she found herself missing them.

Guile was rudely jolted from his sleep when he felt the mattress of his bed tip over. His first waking moment from his previous sleep was spent struggling to regain his balance as he found himself falling in midair. His body came crashing to the cold floor, his hands cushioning the impact slightly. He struggled to his feet only to come face to face with Wagner. Instantly, from the second he glanced into his son's eyes, he knew it wasn't his son standing there. It was the same man who'd attacked him and Kenny when they were in the car on their way over to fetch Wolfman.

Instead of speaking, Wagner threw a punch aimed at Guile's face. The older airman grabbed his son's fist and twisting, taking his attacker to the floor.

"Get a hold of yourself, Wagner!" Guile ordered. "I'm not going through this with you again!"

"Terminate," Wagner said in a cold, inhuman voice, and kicked upward with his booted foot, successfully smashing Guile's nose into his face. Guile leapt to his feet, holding his nose, taking note of the blood that seeped through his fingers. With a free hand, he grabbed a lighting unit beside his best, a tall lamp that provided dim lighting in the room for those who couldn't quite fall asleep yet. He pulled the electronic device from the wall and used its long body as a staff, keeping Wagner at a distance.

Keeping his eye on Wagner, making sure he wouldn't get closer, Guile suddenly felt his heart ache. Was this how his life was to end? At the hands of his own son? If not now, how much longer would he continue to be under Bison's control? Would Wagner then find a way to kill him later? Now that he no longer had to worry about Kenny being in danger by being involved in the fight, it then dawned on Guile for the first time that unless Shadowlaw was brought down, there was a good chance he would lose his son to them. He would not accept that, especially not after losing his best friend to them. Guile had worked so hard to take Wagner off the streets, to turn his life around by providing a stable family backing him – and it was all about to be undone. He couldn't have it. He wouldn't.

**XXXXX**

Bison paced back and forth in the throne room, absolutely furious with Vega's ungratefulness. He'd spent eight years of precious energy taken straight from the Psycho Drive, significantly hindering it from reaching its full potential just to bring him back from the dead. And where does the Spanish matador head to once he's revived? He heads to one of his toys, a mere scientist whom he deems beautiful. Bison had no time for beauty. Petty human appreciation for unimportant things did nothing but slow progress. Where the hell was he!

"Sir," Sagat said, approaching his master, "your guest has arrived."

"Send him in." Bison ordered. "And I want a search party for Vega. This is no time for fun and games."

The doors to the dark throne room slid open, revealing a tall, well muscled figure, just a head shorter than Sagat, but not anywhere near lacking in bulk. His dark hair was just a mat of short spikes, revealing a lengthening buzz cut. He was dressed in combat fatigues and a black, body hugging T-shirt, clearly defining the underlying slabs of muscle on his torso. He held a red beret decorated with the Shadowlaw insignia in his hand, having just removed it out of respect, being in Lord Bison's presence.

"Admiral Issei," Bison greeted. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

"We've met before," his guest replied, "but given your phenomenal task of rebuilding the organization from the ground up, I shouldn't expect you to remember our initial meeting nine years ago."

"You are right to expect that," Bison nodded in approval. "But my attention has recently been directed to you, and for good reason. With the Street Fighter tournament commencing tomorrow, this is the worst time for anything to go wrong."

"Something has, sir?"

"One of our AIDS prototypes has discovered an unfamiliar threat to our plans in," Bison explained. "While waiting for the right moment to launch an assault against the street fighters, we picked up an energy signature in the hospital we believe to be the Satsui no Hadou. The issue is, it didn't belong to Ryu, and I have a strong feeling I know who it was."

"Who?"

"We cannot afford to have the Shotokan demon, Akuma, thwart our plans for Ryu," Bison said. While the tournament progresses, I want you and your best men to keep your eyes open for Akuma. However, though I likely need not remind you, stay on your guard. He is a force to be reckoned with. Sagat, Balrog and Vega – if we can find him – will be assisting you. But once the final rounds commence, you and your unit are on your own."

"I understand."

"You know I chose you for this task because you are among the best our organization has to offer. Do not fail me.'

"Yes, sir." Admiral Issei bowed his head in acknowledgement of his orders.

"I'm not finished yet, Admiral. There is a less important, secondary task that I would like accomplished, depending on your ability. I need Ryu and Akuma apart from each other. Ryu is ours. If you find him, bring him to us. Again, Sagat and the others will be at your disposal should you require their assistance."

"You want me to capture the champion Street Fighter?"

"Wait for him to reach the final rounds. Then we will seize him, with your help of course. I hope these tasks aren't too much for you and your men to undertake."

"Not at all, sir."

**XXXX**

Kenny was positioned by the window of his ward, looking outwards into the nightlife that he longed to be involved in. Across the street, a few clubs were still open, the bass of the music droning slightly in his ears. He bopped his head to the monotonous beat – trance music. It had been awhile since he'd gotten the opportunity to forget his worries. But now that he was finally out of danger, forgotten by Shadowlaw and Umbrella Incorporated alike, maybe he could finally settle down and continue his studies. Yeah, he never really like studying after living in Raccoon City for two years before the quaint American town was destroyed by missiles, but that kind of lifestyle, complete with junior high gossip, hair gel, cologne and social status seemed like a dream far away.

A few meters from the bar sat a street child, probably ten or twelve years old. He was dressed in dirty winter coat and a toque, gloved hands rubbing against each other for warmth. In front of him lay a half eaten sub-sandwich, probably dug up from a trash can somewhere. Kenny shook his head in disapproval at the street child, in the very same position he was in less than a decade ago. One thing Cranky taught him was that you never, under any circumstances take half eaten food. Who knew what kind of bacteria it could've been crawling with, having someone else's mouth all over it, and the marinating in a garbage can all day? Food was supposed to be acquired by money – money stolen from people who you try to charm the hell out of.

Sure, Kenny had gotten his fair shares of "buzz off, street rat!" but he had to learn to suck it up and continuing the practice if he wanted to eat, if he wanted to survive. Kenny continued watching the street child with an intense curiosity that he couldn't explain. He reached down hungrily for his sandwich, but as his fingers came within inches of the soggy morsel, a pedestrial walked by and stepped on it accidentally, smothering the bread with the grime from the bottom of his shoe.

The child looked up angrily at the pedestrian, a businessman dressed in a nice trench coat who obviously, going by his clothes was in a much different financial situation as this particular street child. He saw the kid's mouth open and yell something, though through the hospital windows, Kenny couldn't figure out what was spoken. But their body language said everything – the man reaching out and pushing the child to the ground, kicking him once in the ribs, turning around and walking away with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

The street child remained on the ground, moving very slowly, probably in pain from having been struck. Kenny felt an invisible hand grip his heart and choke tears of sympathy out of him. He'd gotten plenty of verbal abuse from people before, but nobody had actually attacked him. Maybe it was the fact that he was much younger than this boy now, but he still felt sorry nonetheless. Were people just getting meaner nowadays? He didn't know, but Kenny suddenly felt a deep urge to help.

He glanced over at his bed. Beside it, on the dresser lay a tray with his leftovers from dinner. There was a piece of broccoli, some cold chicken noodle soup in a cup and the crust from a sandwich – one that looked much better than the one that kid was about to devour. Kenny headed over to the tray, rummaging around the litter on the floor for the lid and covered it. The food was already cold, but there was still the aesthetic presentation to consider, though he was sure the street kid wouldn't care.

He grabbed a coat on his way out of the room with the tray of food in hand. The hallways were practically deserted this night, except for the few nurses performing their duties in rooms here and there. He tiptoed silently down the hallway, deciding to take the stairway down instead of the elevator. He didn't want the doctors and nurses thinking he was stealing the tray. The stairway led to an emergency exit door with a sticker warning people not to open it or a silent alarm will be triggered. He shrugged and opened it, instinctively readying himself for a screech of the alarm.

The cold night air nipped at his skin the moment he stepped outside and he felt compelled to step back in, but the street child was in sight now, still not having moved from the spot where the pedestrian had left bruised and hungry. Kenny looked both ways before crossing the street, just like Cranky had always told him to do, and approached the fallen child.

"Hey," he said calling out, "are you feeling alright?"

"P…please sir," the child begged, "if you have any change, any at all …"

"I … I have something better," Kenny said, kneeling down and placing the tray in front of the boy, who looked questioningly at it before him. To assure him that it was alright, and it was meant for him, Kenny lifted the lid and almost gagged at the old leftovers.

But the street child's reaction was completely the opposite. His eyes opened wide and his mouth began to water. "T…thank you sir!' he cried in gratitude. "I haven't eaten in days!"

"Eat it slowly," Kenny advised. "If you stuff yourself too quickly, especially when your stomach shrinks after going so long without food, it'll make you sick. I learned the hard way." Kenny placed a hand on his belly for emphasis.

"Are they not feeding you well in the hospital?" the street child asked curiously.

"How did you know I came from …?" Then he looked down at the tag bound around his wrist and smirked. "No, actually. I used to be in your shoes not too long ago."

The kid ignored his comment, tipping his chin towards the hospital. "Looks like there's a party going on in there," he commented.

Kenny turned to see what was going on and reeled back in horror. In the ward a few rooms down from his, Kenny could see two human forms in heated battle, one of which he immediately recognized as Guile from the unique hairstyle. The other silhouette was equally large, and he could only guess it was Wagner.

Whatever control Shadowlaw had Wager under, it had just come back to life. And Kenny couldn't help feeling partly responsible, having the technology used to develop the Agent Initiative program taken straight from his body. Without thinking, Kenny dashed back across the street, hoping to get in there and help with the brawl. Who knew how much time Guile had left, especially with the injuries he might've suffered in the car crash?


	22. Chapter 17: One Down

Wagner attacked with the fury of a storm, fists flying away in Guile's general direction, colliding indiscriminately with the walls, furniture, and the skin and bone of his father's face. He moved with lightning quick, calculated strikes, grunting in frustration after having Guile always just a split second ahead of his movements, successfully predicting where the next strike was about to land. It had only been a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Wagner – or whatever was controlling him. Not a single blow had met its intended target but nonetheless, the older, more experienced airman seemed to be on his toes, and Wagner was keeping him there. Now if he could only find a way to land a hit …

"You're still too slow, son," Guile taunted. "Look at you! Your face is red, you're already sweating and we've barely begun! What about all those breathing exercises we went through, huh?"

But Guile soon ate his words, and Wagner's fist as it plowed into his mouth, knocking him off his feet and a few teeth too. Guile toppled over backwards, hitting the back of his head against the floor, the impact driving the air from his lungs. Wagner wasted no time in letting Guile recover, throwing himself on top of his father, arm flexed, elbow extended, aiming for his ribs. Guile wasn't able to avoid the blow in time, having his air drained lungs crushed further by Wagner's solid elbow.

"I knew you'd run out of steam soon, old man," Wagner taunted, standing victoriously over Guile. He raised himself up on his elbows and stared up at the face of his son. A part of him was proud – proud that Wagner had finally succeeded him after all these years. He'd never expected it to come so soon, but the moment was here. He wished it would be under different circumstances however, one that didn't involve Wagner about to kill him.

"Don't do it, Wagner," Guile said. "You're going to live to regret this."

"I have my orders. And they are to be carried out as Lord Bison wishes." Guile was about to protest but was silenced as Wagner reached into his boot and pulled out a hunting knife, tossing it lightly into the air, letting the dull light of the room shine brilliantly off its razor sharp, polished blade.

Guile's brow formed a sheen of cold sweat after laying his eyes on the blade. He swallowed a dry lump in his throat, mouth struggling to form coherent words, but no sound came out. He watched the blade of the knife approach him slowly. Wagner's form seemed to disappear beneath the glow of light reflecting off it. Time itself slowed to a crawl. Guile realized he was helpless. He could've tried to move out of the way, tried to perhaps disarm Wagner, but he knew in the end, Wagner would finish the job. The only way of truly stopping him would be to destroy Wagner, and Guile was not about to do that. Better to die at the hands of his own son than to kill him.

Before the knife blade to plunge into Guile's chest, he saw Wagner's face contort into a mask of pain and his body flew sideways. All Guile could see now, where Wagner once stood, was a large fist where his face used to be.

"Ryu," Guile gasped, but was too shocked to say much else. He felt to soft, cool hands take him by an arm and lift him to his feet.

"Are you alright, Captain?" a stern, feminine voice asked.

"Chun Li! What are you two doing here?"

"Preventing your son from doing anymore damage," Ryu replied with his back to Guile, facing Wagner who was now picking himself off the ground. "It seems we came just in time."

"Don't hurt him," Guile pleaded. "He doesn't know what he's doing."

"We have to undo the brainwashing Shadowlaw's done on him." Ryu claimed. "But the trick is taking him down."

After helping Guile up to his feet, Chun Li brushed her hands off the side of her jeans and joined Ryu at his side, fists raised, ready to beat Wagner down if he tried anything funny. "Do you think he could go through a memory wipe if we save him?" Chun Li asked Guile.

Guile didn't know the answer to the question, and he hoped it wasn't what he was thinking. He remembered Cammy after her memory wipe and she'd completely lost it upon rediscovering who she was and what she'd done under Shadowlaw's control. Kenny experienced the same thing but was left not knowing anything about his past for nine years, up until earlier this week! But Wagner … there wasn't really anything about his past to hide from him, so it wouldn't be much more than a simple relearning process. How hard could it be?

"Take him down now, ask questions later," Guile said, getting up, joining Chun Li and Ryu. "The odds aren't looking to be in your favor, son. There's no use in pursuing the attack."

"I will not fail Master Bison," Wagner said, and attacked.

**XXXXX**

Cranky pulled Cammy excitedly down the hallway like a child leading his mother to a toy store. She struggled to keep up with him, because if she dared to fall a step behind, he'd pull her along anyway. Not that he could control his own strength. Cranky was a strong young man in his early twenties, working regularly with weights since he was sixteen. Cammy on the other hand hadn't changed physically since she was that age. Still light as a feather, petite and although dense with muscle of her own, she was too tired to resist Cranky.

"Tonight, I'm going to make you the happiest woman alive," Cranky said excitedly.

"I can't wait," Cammy replied, trying to sound excited but her mind was preoccupied with greater things right now than sex – like being accepted into the Street Fighter tournament! Like her father before her, Cammy was going to be a street fighter. She could help in bringing Shadowlaw to justice after everything they'd done to her, her father, Guile, Wagner … basically everyone she ever loved and cared about. They even had the audacity to lay a finger on Melissa, Guile's daughter and Cammy's own adoptive little sister. The opportunity to finally deliver to them what they had coming all these years excited Cammy more than an evening with Cranky ever could. She'd been waiting too long for this chance, and finally, FINALLY it had come.

"We should try and wake up early tomorrow," Cranky said. "I want to get back here in the morning so we can take Kenny out to breakfast. He'll like the real stuff, not the crap food they serve you in the hospital. It'll be like old times. Only this time, we'll actually have paid for the meal with real money, not the money we'd take from people."

Cammy smiled. "It's good to see that you've turned your life around," she said. "But if it's going to be like old times, I'm sure the both of you will have a lot of catching up to do. Are you sure it's appropriate for me to be there?"

Cranky shook his head, completely certain that he wanted Cammy there. "Taking care of that fucker taught me to be responsible. He played a big part in my past and you … you're going to be a part of my future." He gazed into Cammy's eyes and smiled. "There are no more secrets between us, Cammy. You've stuck by my side after finding out the weapons dealing bullshit I was involved in with Shadowlaw. And even after finding out what I did to you … with Juli and all, you're still here. There's nothing left to hide, and everything to discover about me. I want you and Kenny to get to know each other. I really do." He wrapped an arm around Cammy's waist and pulled her in close, the other arm around her shoulders. They didn't kiss this time, just shared a genuine, tight, love-filled hug.

Cammy responded similarly, but her mind was swimming with guilt. Cranky had been disloyal to her in the past, there was no denying. He'd put her through hell. But now, the way he reacted when talking about them, their relationship, he seemed genuinely happy. He seemed so free, and she was envious of that. He was willing to open up to her, tell her and show her every aspect of his life that he possibly could. But she was keeping a secret from him – the secret of the miscarriage of her – THEIR baby. But doing so would cause her to lose him, she was sure of it, knowing Cranky's temper. She was good at predicting when he would explode, but she couldn't predict how it would end. Sometimes he would come back to her and apologize for his actions. Other times, she'd have to go to him and apologize and then they'd fight. Well on the bright side, the make-up sex wasn't too bad. She had to get her mind off the topic before she exploded with guilt and told him right then and there. She wasn't ready. She had to wait for the right time. And this moment was too perfect for the both of them to ruin. The secret would have to wait. Cammy changed the subject.

"You know, Kenny's done a great job taking care of himself all these years," she said.

Cranky agreed. "Yeah, he has. I'm proud of the brat."

"So then, why do you feel the need to … you know, hover over his shoulder?"

Cranky was taken aback. He crinkled his brow at Cammy and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on," she said, elbowing him lightly in the ribs, "suggesting you stay and watch him overnight? Did you notice his face turn beet red, especially when you treated him like such a child in front of everyone? Don't get me wrong, Cranky, I think it's sweet. But you need to realize that he's not the same six year old child when you last saw him."

"Easy for you to say, babe," Cranky said, "you weren't there when he was that young. I was."

"Look, all I'm saying is …" she sighed, surrendering to the fact that maybe he had a point. "All I'm saying is it's because of that selflessness that I love you …" Cammy congratulated herself for pulling that one straight out of her ass, but when she thought about it, she realized it wasn't untrue either. But hey, it was good for Cranky as he suddenly threw his arm across her shoulders and they walked towards the underground parking, past the cafeteria.

"Oh my gosh," Cammy suddenly said, putting a hand to her mouth. Cranky had stopped dead in his tracks too, as the both of them stared ahead.

There was a man with his back turned to them, stumbling forward, trembling violently. A few feet away, further down the hall, closer to the cafeteria stood Ken Masters. A bag of cheddar Doritos lay crumbled on the ground just a few feet away, its contents sprawled over the flooring. Ken caught sight of Cammy and Cranky, but never flinched from his fighting stance, ready to engage his attacker at any given moment. He spoke to them.

"Get out of here, you two," he ordered. "This is dangerous."

"That's … that's Julian!" Cammy exclaimed, pointing a shaky finger.

"Marquez!" Cranky cried in shock.

The man turned around to face them, stared at them defiantly, the shifted his gaze in the opposite direction towards Ken. He was surrounded on both sides. And on the inside, the Agent Initiative technology was threatening to burst forth.

"Kill me," Julian said weakly. "I can't take this torture anymore."

Upon hearing those words, Cammy's heart sank. She hadn't actually been in physical contact with Julian a whole lot, but they've shared words, phone calls, heard about one another through third parties to the point where now she actually felt like she knew the man. And somehow, she knew he felt the same way about her. She could also see the pain in Ken's eyes, the way his face was twisted into an expression of aggression. But his eyes were wide and teary, like he regretted what he was about to do.

"NO!" Cammy screamed. "I'm not going to sit here and watch you give up, Julian!" He looked back at her, the effort throwing him down onto his knees. Cammy continued. "I've seen you go through more shit than this, and you pulled through just fine. Remember all those years you spent in the dark prison cell? You fought it, and you made it out alright! You fought for me when Shadowlaw had me under their control! You fought for Ken and Eliza! And I will not let you lose now, especially when this time, you're fighting for YOURSELF!"

Cammy had kept him distracted for Ken, although that was far from her intentions. Ken Masters, world Shotokan Champion and winner of the U.S. Martial Arts Open snuck up behind Julian and dealt a devastating blow to him temple, knocking the much larger man out cold. Cammy screamed as Ken's fist made contact with Julians head, and again when his body slumped cold and unconscious to the floor.

He bent down to inspect Julian to see if he was still kicking. Deciding that he was okay, Ken looked up at Cammy and winked. "That's, babe, I owe you one." He smiled that arrogant, rich boy smile again, the one that was so good at getting under her skin.

"What have you done!" she almost screeched, but Cranky took her gently by the shoulders and held her close to him.

"It's alright," he whispered into her ear. "Now we can save Marquez."

"That's right," Ken agreed. "What better place to get him fixed up than a hospital?"


	23. Chapter 18: Spilled Beans

Cammy stood outside the restaurant wrapping her arms around her body for warmth. From this pose, she could easily see the watch strapped around her slender wrist, reading 8:30 am. The restaurant had been open for about a half hour now, and patrons were slowly filling it up. She hoped they wouldn't have to wait long for a seat, and Cranky had gone inside to ensure just that. The morning air was starting to warm up from the chilly night, but it wasn't going fast enough for her. Cammy thought to bring a coat before coming, but didn't want to lug it around once it got too warm in the afternoon to wear it.

The first rounds for the new comers of the Street Fighter tournament were commencing later in the afternoon. This was the real deal. She was going to face off with the other more experienced fighters who've most likely just dicked around with each other. But now that the roster of fighters was complete, there was no more time for games. The fights were about to get real bloody, each warrior beating the pulp out of the other regardless of size, age or build. They were all equals to have made it this far, to be accepted into the bouts. The only thing they could rely on for victory were their reflexes and pure, dumb luck. Cammy swore to herself that she would make it to the final rounds, to face off against Shadowlaw's deadliest fighters and finally, to Bison. She didn't care if she had to scrap with Chun Li, Ryu, Ken, or even Guile just to get her claws on him. Guile had no idea how badly she ached for revenge against Bison.

"They're going to be seating us in about five minutes," Cranky said, suddenly appearing right beside Cammy. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn't even heard him come out of the building. "Any sign of Kenny?"

She shook her head.

"Christ," Cranky sighed. "He better not be sleeping still or I'm gonna kill him, that lazy ass."

"It was a trying day yesterday, for all of us," Cammy said distantly. "I'm just glad it ended well."

"Have they found a way to fix Julian and Wagner yet?"

"These people are doctors," Cammy replied. "They can only fix you if there's something physically wrong. But with them, they've been brainwashed. I'm not sure how much the doctors can do. They're asleep … asleep, or unconscious right now. I'm afraid they'll wake up and, well …"

"Have faith," Cranky assured her, patting her shoulder. "We've gone through a lot just to get Wagner and Julian back. We can't afford to lose them now."

"It's just that with Shadowlaw's trademark memory wipes, it doesn't matter who has control over them in the end. We lose Wagner and Julian anyway. I just wish …" Cammy clenched her fists. "I wish nobody else has to go through that. But yet, one of the next victims is non other than my own brother."

"It could be worse, Cammy," Cranky said, pulling her slender body close. "They could be dead. But they're not and we should be eternally grateful for that."

"Like when you thought they killed your brother …"

Cranky silenced her by giving her a tight, supporting hug. He didn't want to be reminded of those days, the days immediately following when Kenny was reported dead. The only thing worse than the pain of the loss was the guilt. He could've prevented Kenny from being killed simply by denying Ryu access to him. But Cranky had put his trust in the wrong person, in a street fighter of all people, a street fighter being pursued by Shadowlaw. He didn't know what possessed him to let Kenny go with Ryu back then, but he swore that this aspect of history would never repeat itself…

"Oh, good, you guys are here!" Kenny called out from across the street. He bolted across the two way road, briefly glancing in either direction as he ran towards them. "Sorry I'm late, but I had a tough time convincing the hospital people to let me come and see you guys. They said something about me being in no shape to leave."

"How did you manage to convince them it was alright?" Cammy asked curiously.

"I didn't," Kenny shrugged. "I had to sneak out of my ward. Those windows are small so it took a little squeezing but hey!" He spreaded his arms. "I'm here!"

"Are you crazy!" Cranky asked. "You're on the second level!"

"Thank God," Kenny added. "I could've been on the third. Now, THAT would've been painful."

"But how could you …"

"Anyway, I'm starved! C'mon, let's get some grub!" Walking briskly past a bewildered Cranky and Cammy, he led the way into the restaurant.

**XXXXX**

Cranky was excited as the three of them were seated. Cammy, his girlfriend and lover, and most likely his future wife, was going to get to know the not-so-much six year old boy that Cranky had raised himself. His future and his past were sitting across from each other, about to share a meal together. He was probably grinning from ear to with excitement but he didn't care. There wasn't a high probability this would ever happen again. Cammy had introduced him to her family before, but Cranky had no family to introduce her to. Kenny was the closest thing he had to a family.

"We've met," Kenny stated bluntly, shoving a fork full of egg into his mouth. Before he even had a chance to swallow, he took a swig of black, no cream, no sugar coffee to wash it down. He wiped an arm across his mouth and continued, not even looking up to see Cranky's gaping mouth.

Cranky turned to Cammy. "Is this true?" he asked.

"We had a nice chat back at the house," she explained. "I told you already, didn't I?"

"Well how long of a chat was this?"

Cammy shrugged. "A good couple of minutes. It was good. He's a nice kid, Cranky."

"I can't believe you call him Cranky too!" Kenny chuckled. "He hated it when we were kids."

"Oh, if I had a penny for every time I wanted to wring your neck for calling me that …"

"He introduced me to his buddies," Kenny explained. "They all called him … what was it … Craig. Yeah, that's his real name. Either that, or Crankurt. But they always said it so quickly so I thought they were calling him Cranky. The first time I called him that in front of his friends, he took me aside and threatened me to never do it again. But later I did it to piss him off and then after awhile it just sorta stuck."

"I knew I should've thrown you into the nearest dumpster," Cranky mumbled, earning him a light slap from Cammy.

"So that's the history behind his nickname," Cammy laughed. "Very interesting!"

"Oh, and you know what grosses him out the most? When you do this." Kenny opened his mouth and displayed the underside of his tongue, letting a small jet of saliva spray out and land on the table in front of him. Cammy looked at Cranky to see his reaction, but he was hiding his eyes behind a hand.

"That is disgusting!" he said. "Stop it. Kenny, I said stop it NOW!"

The youth did as he was told and wiped the table with his napkin. "So yeah. Just so you know."

"I think that'll come in handy one day," Cammy chuckled and looked to Cranky. But he wasn't as amused as she was with Kenny's trick. "Oh come on, he was just having fun." She leaned her head on his shoulder.

Cranky ordered an omelet set that came with bacon, scrambled eggs, and a side of toast and jam. Cammy kept to a single pancake, not wanting to overeat so she would have time to train later in the morning before the tournaments commenced in the afternoon. But Kenny had practically emptied the kitchen. The pile of greasy hash brown, three sunnyside up eggs, four pancakes swimming in syrup, French toast, bacon and ham looked like it could feed all three of them nicely in one sitting. But he had devoured it all while Cammy was just finishing up the last bite of her pancake.

"So," Kenny said, between mouthfuls of bacon and toast, "are you guys like, planning to get married or something?"

Cranky looked away, embarrassed, putting Cammy in the awkward position of answering the question. "Well, to be honest, we haven't really thought that far ahead," she said nervously. "Your brother and I … we've just, uh, been seeing each other, that's all. We're taking things slowly, y'know?"

"Well hurry and get your act together and make me an uncle!" Kenny cried excitedly. "That would be so cool. I can hear it now …'Uncle Kenny' …"

"Ease up," Cranky said, "I don't even think we've got the financial means to support a child. Though I think making one would be pretty fun." He gave her a wink. "But definitely in the future."

"Yeah, and this time, treat her good so she doesn't lose the baby …" and then Kenny clamped his mouth shut, nearly biting off his own tongue in the process. He broke eye contact with Cranky, staring at his plate of food instead. But it was too late. A deathly silence fell upon the table. A fork clattered violently with the ceramic plate. When Kenny dared to sneak a look at Cammy, her eyes were wide with fear. He could practically see her heart thumping its way out of her chest.

"I'm sorry," Cranky said, making a visible effort to contain his shock. "What did you just say, Kenny?"

"W…what does it matter what I say nowadays!" he laughed nervously. "Gosh, you know me and my crazy imagination. Oh, I drank too much coffee - I gotta pee …"

"Sit down," Cranky ordered, seizing him by the collar, nearly throwing Kenny back into his seat. "What's going on here? Are you not telling me something?"

"Cranky stop it," Cammy muttered. "It's not his fault. It's mine …"

"What's your goddamned fault!" Cranky said, raising his voice above conversational level.

"You were … you were going to be a father," Cammy practically whispered, "a few months ago. But I didn't know … I had no idea until I went on a mission. They kidnapped me and ... when Julian …"

"Cammy, I'm so … I'm so, so sorry …" Kenny apologized, but there was nothing he could do to save either of them from Cranky's wrath.

He shot Kenny a glare. "You were in on this?" He looked back at Cammy. "You were BOTH in on this together! Cammy, why didn't you say anything?"

"I … I didn't want you to get …"

"Well I **AM** fucking pissed!" he screamed. "Not only did you choose to keep this secret from me, one that I had every fucking right in the world to know! But you exploited my kid brother into keeping it! Who … who the hell does that kind of bullshit?"

"I was the one who agreed not to tell you, Crank!" Kenny insisted. "Not her!"

"You stay out of this!" Cranky jabbed a finger into Kenny's chest.

He was breathing heavily now. His green eyes glanced around the restaurant, looking for something to hit, something to break. The other patrons were now staring at him, wondering what was going on at the table.

"Nani ga miteru ka!" he screamed at them, startling the other customers, who quickly went back to their meals.

"Cranky, please calm down," Cammy begged.

"Yeah, don't get mad, we're sorry, okay?" Kenny added. "We won't do it again, I swear."

"This is the thanks I get from you, Kenny?" Cranky asked. "I take care of you your whole goddamned childhood and this is how you repay me?"

"No, I …"

"And you!" his intense glare burned a hole right through Cammy, who was too ashamed of what she'd done, too afraid to look into his eyes. Cranky searched for a word he could use to verbalize the intense anger, the madness, the hatred he held towards Cammy at that moment. But no word existed. He breathed heavily from his nose, wagged a finger in the air once at her, and stormed out of the restaurant, into the busy Osaka streets.


	24. Chapter 19: Tournament Commences

**Author's Notes: **Please bear with the lack of flowing chapter numbers. I am in the process of merging the chapters in the middle of the story as I'm finding they take up more space than they're supposed to. As requested by Tao Shui (Stillstraet) and in following Vammy's suggestions, I have FINALLY allowed the tournament to start. It should have started many chapters ago, being the main plot of the story, but I got too caught up with the subplot involving the drama between the OC's. Ah well, the spotlight's being shifted over to the Street Fighters now. Enough of my blabber. Let the story continue!

**XXXXX **

The Osaka Dome was filled to the brim with screaming, hysterical fans. Tier upon tier threatened to spill the spectators from their seats, over the balcony and into the arena, placed in the direct centre of the massive dome. The indoor baseball field had been converted accordingly, a large tiled platform set up a few steps off the grassy ground. Brilliant camera flashes went off all around from fans and journalists alike. The hysteria was partly attributed to the nature of the tournament – one that celebrated the martial arts from all over the world – or at least, that's how Shadowlaw marketed the tournament. Another cause was the fact that the tournament was not an annual event and instead only occured every couple of years. So when it came around, people got into it – hardcore.

Kenny knew how popular the Street Fighter tournaments were, having been spectator to at least one in the past. He walked towards the entrance of the dome, smothered by people whichever way he turned. Cranky was just a few steps ahead of him, shoving people out of the way, clearing a path for the both of them to move through. The locals were little, and he was big. There were a few shouts of protest, but nobody dared approach the foreigner with pale skin and fiery hair.

Kenny tagged along behind but purposely kept a good few feet between him and Cranky. He got a feeling that his brother was still pissed off after finding his secret earlier this morning – or more specifically, Cammy's secret. Cranky had hardly said a word to him after that, only showed up at Kenny's hospital ward and grunted, signaling it was time to leave to attend the event. He'd snuck back to the hospital, the nurses never having suspected that he left in the morning to go for breakfast, and convinced them afterward that the street fighter tournament was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him to experience. It took a little convincing, but he eventually talked them into letting him have his way while Cranky stood by, arms folded angrily across his chest.

The children of irresponsible parents ran around at Kenny's feet, waving their hands wildly in the air. Some of them were dressed up as their favorite street fighters – one of which had a red shoelace around his head, and a matching white tank top with karate pants.

"Hadouken!" the child cried, pushing another child who could have been his little sister.

"You've got it all wrong," Kenny mumbled under his breath.

The girl, whose hair was sloppily pulled into two buns at the sides of her head, fell on her rear. Kenny half expected her to break out into tears, but she rose to her feet quickly and wrestled her brother to the ground, laughing happily the whole way down.

Deciding he'd seen enough of horribly performed fighting techniques, Kenny looked forward, making sure he didn't lag too far behind Cranky. He dug his hands into his pockets to check for the tickets that Ken Masters was able to snag for him. They were still there, the glossy and crisp pieces of paper in his pocket. He took them out and had a quick look over them – front row seats, as usual. He would never expect anything less from his Uncle Ken. If the special, expensive tickets weren't purchased as a favor for Kenny, then they would be used give him the closest thing to a first hand experience of Uncle Ken's near flawless martial arts style. Show off. Typical.

As they approached the Dome, Kenny's eye shifted over to a woman standing by herself, gazing up at a huge poster portrait of Ryu. These posters were laid out accordingly all along the building's exterior, and from where Kenny was standing, in the corridors too. They depicted the fighter's face and shoulders with their name slapped somewhere in the layout. It was surreal for Kenny, seeing the people who he called his friends being treated like such celebrities, even having children dressed up like them.

He couldn't explain why, but his eye was drawn back to the woman staring at the portrait of Ryu. She didn't look like a fan girl – definitely way too old in her dress shirt, knee length skirt and high heels. Was it her hair? It was short, almost like a boy's haircut only a little longer at the top. He caught sight of a white headband that she held in her hand, neatly folding it into a bow which she then placed in the breast pocket of her shirt.

"Sakura …" Kenny found himself mumbling. Yes, it was her – the girl who he ran into on the streets nine years ago, the crazy fan of Ryu. Only now she didn't look as crazy anymore, but it was obvious to him she still held that same kind of admiration close to heart, the way she looked up at his face, as he looked across the horizon to the sky. Kenny shook his head, his artistic side of himself suddenly subsiding.

"Kenny, gimme the tickets!" Cranky called from the turntables. Beside him, a fully clothed attendant stood with her hands folded neatly in front of her body, waiting patiently for Kenny to catch up.

"Coming!"

**XXXXX**

"You know, shaking and shivering like that wastes a lot of your energy prior to the fight." Chun Li took her hand off Cammy's shoulder and she resumed her convulsions. Chun Li sighed and headed towards her locker, placing a pile of her neatly folded civilian clothes into it, and slammed the door shut with a bang. It was strange being the large room with only two of them to occupy it. During the preliminary rounds, the women's locker room was filled with Street Fighter hopefuls, all wanting to prove themselves as the strongest women in the world.

The tournament administration didn't emphasize it enough that there would be no sex discrimination when it came to the selection process, and that the women would be fighting against men as equals. A few of the more conservative ones were disgusted by the morality of it all, packed their bags, and left. The rest were beaten and eliminated – by Chun Li. Still, Cammy found it mildly odd that she and Chun Li were the only women competitors in the tournament. And Cammy was one of the new comers. Chun Li had already secured a spot for herself in the preliminary rounds.

"Were you like this when you first started out?" Cammy asked.

"Back in the Alpha tournaments, I was a little," Chun Li admitted. "But as they continued, I found myself getting less scared and more excited. With very victory, I was getting closer to my goal to defeat Bison. I guess sometimes, I was too blinded by revenge to feel nervous. Hey, you participated in the Alpha tournaments too, didn't you?"

"I was a different person back then," Cammy replied. "And I don't remember much of it."

"I'm sorry, that was inappropriate," Chun Li apologized. "Listen, we'll talk later cause my turn's coming up soon and I haven't warmed up yet." She gave Cammy a supportive pat on the shoulder before heading out of the locker room, leaving her alone in the empty space with nobody to comfort her.

**XXXXX**

They had just barely entered the Dome when Kenny thought he saw something – a dark shadow of a man just around the corner, emanating some kind of concentrated energy, a really strong fighting spirit that felt eerily familiar. He felt his palms instantly condense with cold sweat, forcing himself to look away. It was Akuma, no doubt about it, the man that attacked him and Ryu last night at the hospital. What in the world was he doing in the street fighter tournament?

Though his instincts told him not to, Kenny looked again, this time, surprised to find that the enigmatic figure had suddenly disappeared. The initial glimpse had been quick, but Kenny was sure he made out some features pretty accurately. The figure was strangely dark in a brightly lit hallway, but he could've sworn he saw the flaming red hair of the man sticking up in intimidating spikes off the top of his head, the dark karate gi, and tanned, dark brown skin of his arms.

"You're walking too slowly," Cranky called angrily from a few steps ahead. "Keep at this rate and we'll lose our seats for sure."

"Did you see that …"

"See what?" Cranky sighed outwardly and grabbed Kenny by the elbow, tugging him along at a faster pace while he struggled to break free.

"You don't need to be in such a goddamned hurry," Kenny said. "It's arranged seating."

Cranky paid him no attention as they headed down what seemed like an endless maze of corridors, each one just as crowded with people as the last. The heat in here was suffocating and he couldn't wait to get to their seats, in the wide open arena, and get a breath of fresh air.

He caught sight of a large, thickly built security guard staring them down as they passed. He sure didn't look like a security guard, though, more like a soldier with his army fatigues, combat pants, a tight black T-shirt that showed of his muscular torso with a dark green padded vest over that. One side of the crimson beret came down over his face, covering a brow. What really caught his attention was the Shadowlaw emblem on the hat, its gold coating contrasting well with the deep red.

Cranky made eye contact with the man and got the feeling something wasn't quite right about him – the way the guard was looking at them, as if expecting the pair of brothers to cause some kind of trouble. Could it be the way he was rough housing Kenny? Then again, there were quite a few Japanese people who had a distaste for foreigners, and Kenny wasn't an obvious foreigner.

Cranky caught a glimpse of the guard's name tag, reading "Issei." As they walked away, Cranky noted that the guy didn't make an attempt to stop him if he thought Kenny was in some kind of trouble. Then again, he wouldn't expect much help from a Shadowlaw operative. This whole tournament was run by them. Cranky shuddered to think that everything around him was just a fancy mask for an illegal operation. Kidnapping street fighters and brainwashing them just like they did to Wagner and Julian? Illegal was an understatement.

The guard spoke into his walkie-talkie, too quickly for Cranky to understand, and he spoke in Japanese, which made it that much harder, but he could've sworn he heard the word "Akuma" in there somewhere. That caught Cranky's attention as he turned around for another look, and realized why this guy, aside from glaring at him with an unspoken hatred, had caught his attention. He eyes and nose, the shape of his jaw – it was all so familiar … The guard's head jerked left and right as if he were about to cross a busy street in a disciplined military fashion and took off.

"So you're pissed off at Cammy and now you're hopping the fence, huh?" Kenny joked. Cranky shot him an angry look. The wound was still sore and now was not the best time to joke about it. "Sorry," Kenny apologized, holding up his hands.

Cranky's expression softened and he sighed. "I don't feel like dealing with her and her secretive bullshit anymore," he said. "That man …" He pointed at the spot where the guard had been standing. "He looked like you."

**XXXXX**

Ken landed from his finishing move, after he'd launched his opponent in the air – a large sumo wrestler dressed in noting but a blue bath towel wrapped around his enormous waist. He called himself E. Honda and the first thing to hit Ken's mind was the imported cars that required little maintenance, but did nothing to protect you in a car crash.

But this guy was built like a tank. Ken initially passed him off as an overweight walrus, but made the mistake of mistaking those pounds of muscle for fat. E. Honda had immense strength, and had proven it to Ken earlier on in the fight, seizing him effortlessly by one arm and throwing him around the ring like a rag doll. And for a 500 pound sumo wrestler, Ken had to admit that this guy quick, almost as quick as he was. Even the attacks the sumo delivered – that move where he launched himself across the ring like a torpedo, or the combination attack of what felt like a hundred light punches that eventually took their toll, felt like they were being dealt by more than one person.

But after Ken made sure to himself that he would no longer underestimate this particular opponent, winning was easy. He kept his weight on his back leg, in a defensive stance, arms protectively shielding his torso, ready to strike at any given moment. The moment Ken spotted an opening, he would dive right in, offer a quick jab and retreat. The keep away strategy was predictable, and he could tell that E. Honda knew it. But he was far to large to keep up with Ken.

After Honda stopped performing his elaborate attacks that would leave him with a long recovery time and took a defensive position, Ken could feel his strategy crumbling before his eyes.

"Hey, fatty," Ken taunted, "come on and fight. It ain't nap time yet!"

"Is this the Shotokan art?" Honda retorted. "Your childish techniques do you no good."

"They seem enough to handle an overgrown baby like you!"

Honda lost it at that point, and came at Ken with a fury of his hand slap attacks. The brief oral exchange bought him enough time to concentrate his chi into a single focal point in his foot. The second Honda was within reach, he unleashed that chi with a wave of turning kicks. Ken spun his body around, kicking his leg out with every full rotation, striking with such speeds it was as if the friction of air around his foot had set it, and therefore his opponent, on fire. He was spinning like a top, the momentum driving both fighters into the air. The only difference in landing was that Ken did so gracefully, while Honda cracked the tiles with his bloated body in an unconscious heap.

"Your winner," a voice over the speaker announced, "Ken Masters!" And the crow went wild as a wave of camera flashes set off for a glimpse of the US Martial Arts Open champion and hopefully this year, Street Fighter Champion. Ken threw his arms in the air in victory, embracing the cheers, taking in every single voice in the chorus of screams that chanted his name!

"Kick ass, Uncle Ken!" a soft voice yelled, but it stuck out like a sore thumb to him. He would recognize the voice anywhere. He sauntered over to the front rows, separated from the battle arena by a thick wire fence. He stuck his hand through one of the diamond openings and ruffled the back of Kenny's head affectionately.

Beside him was a beautiful blonde lady who stood up and gripped the fence, trying to get closer to the victor of the bout. "You were terrific, honey," she said.

"Eliza, babe," Ken said, a childish grin appearing on his face, "I'm glad to see you made it."

"The doctors said I couldn't travel so I had to postpone the flight home," she explained. "At least I get to see you fight now."

"And do I get a kiss for winning?"

"Not through this," she replied, tapping against the fence. "I don't feel like tasting metal right now. Besides, you're all sweaty and gross."

"Good to see you here too, Crankurt," Ken said, acknowledging the red haired man sitting on the other side of Kenny. "You're a pretty tough lookin' guy. How come you didn't bother registering for the tournament? You would've been great competition."

"I'm a petty thief, Masters," Cranky laughed in good nature, "not a fighter. But thanks for the consideration, though."

"They're having a tough time removing the sumo," Kenny noted, staring with interest at what was going on in the arena. "Looks like they're gonna need more than four men to carry him off in a stretcher."

"They should have enough people," Ken said, shrugging off the issue. "Hey, I better get out of here. The next match is starting. I'll probably be facing the winner in the intermediate rounds. I'm gonna go freshen up. You guys enjoy the fight." His declaration was followed by a mini-chorus of goodbyes.

"I'll see you tonight, honey!"

"Own them good, Uncle Ken!"

"Later, Masters."

**XXXXX**

Chun Li stood in the middle of the fighting platform, a small, petite figure on one end of the stage, in stark contrast to the caped figure standing at the other end. She recognized the fighter from the Alpha tournaments, a Russian wrestler who went by Zangief. The man was seven feet tall while she was just above five and a half feet – and that was considered tall for a Chinese woman. Nine years ago, Zangief had fallen victim to a variant of the Shadow Technology that possessed her and Charlie Nash, turning his body into metal. She didn't fight him, being under the influence of the Shadow Technology herself, but judging from accounts from her fellow street fighters, fighting him was like going a against a machine.

Despite that, technological body enhancements not included, Zangief WAS a machine made of muscle. He was as densely packed as E. Honda, only muscle striations and veiny bulges were clear beneath hairy Siberian skin. His body was covered from head to toe with deep scars, never to be fully healed. Rumor had it that he'd gained the scars from wrestling bears in the Siberian wilderness, but not even the most imaginative of people were willing to believe such a tall tale, let alone Doubting Chun Li.

The two fighters approached the center of the ring, their eyes never breaking contact. Zangief looked angrily at her, though Chun Li was sure her face wasn't reflecting the same expression. She was looking at her opponent with curiosity, more so than anything else. She never learned of the Russian wrestler's fate after the Mt. Fuji explosion, but here he was standing in front of her looking healthier – and meaner than ever.

They were given a chance to stare each other down before the fight commenced. But Zangief took to opportunity to talk to her instead.

"It is good to see you are well, Detective," he grunted, his voice deep and thick with an accent.

"Same here," Chun Li replied. "I've always wanted to know what happened to you after Shadowlaw."

"We speak later," Zangief said. "Now is not the time."

"Agreed."

And the round commenced. Chun Li hopped back a step to gain some distance between her and Zangief. He was a powerful grappler so as long as she kept her distance, she was going to be okay. Chun Li wasn't lacking in the agility department either, so getting some good space between her and the hands of her opponent was a cakewalk. As they circled each other, Chun Li began forming an attack strategy in her head, one that would allow her to get a few decent strikes in without putting herself at risk within Zangief's grappling range.

"Come here!" Zangief growled, flexing his mighty arms. "Let me show you the power of Mother Russia!"

Chun Li took this as an opportunity to strike. While Zangief was busy showing off his build to the crowd, she threw her body towards him, leg extended for a solid kick to the wrestler's upper abdomen. _WHAM! _She followed it with two more in lightning quick succession and a flurry of light kicks to disorient him. "Senretsu Kyaku!"

Zangief grabbed his face with a hand and shook his head clear and roared at Chun Li. The attack was meant to enrage him, not so much to hurt him, it was obvious enough. But he wouldn't settle for that. The fact that this insolent little fighter thought she could get the better of Zangief enraged him. How ironic.

"Mother Russia may b e powerful," Chun Li remarked smugly, "but she sure isn't bright."

Zangief fist smashed into her face, forcing her to eat it and her own words. She sailed through the air with the power of his strength and his weight behind the punch. The wrestler was spinning around with his arms outstretched, performing a multi-hitting lariat move. Before Chun Li could fly out of his reach, Zangief's other fist came around and knocked her again. This repeated for a another few seconds after but to her, it felt like an eternity.

As the attack finished, Chun Li's body fell to the tarp, but she was oriented enough to sense Zangief's heavy stomp coming down on her small body and to roll away in the nick of time. Chun Li winced as the heel of his boot scraped her arm.

**XXXXX**

High above the arena in a special V.I.P. booth, Bison watched the match unfold far below him from two viewpoints, one being the thick glass flooring which kept them from falling onto the fighters down below, and the other a big television screen projecting from a system of cameras set up around the arena, switching to different cameras every fifteen seconds. Bison watched through the screen, analyzing the moves of the fighters and had been doing so since the tournament began.

"She's going to win this match," he predicted to Sagat, standing powerfully beside his master. "The little Chinese one. She knows how to maneuver herself in a fight while the big oaf can only stand there and watch her dance around him. What's her name?"

"Interpol Agent Chun Li," Sagat replied. "You should remember her from the Alpha tournaments …"

"Doesn't ring a bell," Bison snapped, rubbing his chin.

"You killed her father," Sagat reminded.

"I've killed lots of people," Bison retorted. "How do you expect me to remember every last one of them?"

There was a knock on the door. "Enter!" Bison grunted. There was a click of the latch and the sound of high heels against glass flooring. Bison turned in his swivel chair to face her, the very same seat from the base. He was delighted upon finding out that it was portable as well.

"Miss Katarina Feng," he said, a grin of temptation spreading across his lips. She wasn't only one of his best scientists, but she was the finest woman Shadowlaw had to offer. Bison had been working hard to ignore his lust for women as it was a sign of weakness. If he was going to rule the world, he could destroy every man, weak or strong, big or small, but if he allowed himself to be tempted even for a second by a beautiful woman, everything he worked for could come crashing down in an instant. He'd been somewhat successful in ignoring such temptations when it came to the dolls – they were just bodies with no personalities. Having sexual relations with them would earn him no favors in return and would be about as good as humping a corpse. And as for Cammy the Killer Bee, he didn't like his women butch. "What can I do for you this afternoon?"

"I would like your permission," she replied with a silky voice. As she spoke, she removed her glasses and tucked them into the pocket of her short white lab coat. "I hear that my brother, Admiral Issei, is on a secret mission."

"He is," Bison nodded.

"Is it true that you're ordering his unit to weaken the street fighters, to sabotage their training so that they don't stand a chance in the final rounds against you?"

"By mind control, yes," Bison admitted. "Their minds must be weak to lower their capability of resisting the Psycho Drive when they do in fact lose."

Katarina nodded in comprehension. "I would like to engage in battle with the Killer Bee," she said. "I've been training for this moment ever since Vega was killed by her."

"Oh so you're Vega's new toy," he said smugly, turning his back on her. "You are well aware of how much you mean to this organization. You are a scientist, a very talented one at that, not a warrior. I will not jeopardize one of scientific gems for a fight that your brother could easily take care of."

"Sir, you underestimate her," Vega said, coming up from behind Katarina, entering the room. "She is talented not only in the sciences, but in the ring as well. I've seen her in action."

"In more than one way, I'm sure," Bison muttered.

"I'm sorry, Master Bison?"

"Er … nothing." He turned back to face them. "I will allow you to fight the Killer Bee on one condition." He held up his index finger to emphasize his point. "We created the Killer Bee. We know how she fights."

"She employs the same Shadowlaw Ninjitsu that the other dolls use," Katarina said, "the one developed by Admiral Issei. He's taught me a few things, too."

"The Killer Bee is an _expert_ at the art," Bison countered, "and with her kind of engineered strength, it wouldn't surprise me if she could take down even Admiral Issei in battle. Don't think that 'a few things' is enough to last more than a few seconds with her in a fight."

"What are your terms then, sir?"

"Vega will have to accompany you if," Bison replied, folding his arms across his chest, his solid posture alluding to his unshakeable terms. "I'm sure he's aching for some revenge as well, after what the Killer Bee did to him all those years ago."

"Agreed." Katarina looked at Vega, the two of them smiling devilishly at each other. Revenge would be theirs Killer Bee was going to die soon. Vega ran his tongue along his bottom lip while his fingers rubbed lightly against his razor claws.


	25. Chapter 20: Fatal Lies

Cammy could've sworn she felt one of her ribs crack as her torso swallowed a massive fist. Her light body flew threw their air and bounced upon making contact with the tarp, like a pebble skipping across the surface of a lake. She tumbled painfully head over heels, random parts of her body smashing against the hard surface until she came to a rest, about three bounces later. Her body felt as heavy as lead as she tried prying herself from the platform. With weak shaky arms, she pushed her torso upwards and looked through her good eye at her opponent. The other eye was now swollen shut from the punch she received earlier in the bout.

He was a tall, giant man with tanned skinned and long, flowing black hair tied into a ponytail. He wore a headband adorned with some kind of Incan zigzag pattern with an eagle feather sticking straight up into the hair from the back of his head. The tribal paint on his face told her he was a Native American, probably from farther down south due to the Incan influence in his costume. It wasn't an elaborate getup by any means - a denim vest and jeans - but the strips of leather attached to the rims of the leather boots gave him a hint of the cowboy look. The opponent wasn't skinny by any means. Hell, she wouldn't have even used the word 'built'. He was a monster, almost as huge as Sagat was. The guy looked like he never left the gym with grotesque muscles and veins popping from every inch of his bare skin. If it wasn't for Cammy's engineered body, there was no way a girl her size would be able to take the abuse that T. Hawk had delivered sofar. He probably knew it too, which was why he was amazed that Cammy could pick herself up from the ground no matter how hard he pounded her.

"Stop this madness now, and accept defeat," he advised in a calm, collected voice, thick with a Spanish accent. "You are not the one I have come to destroy."

Cammy's body shivered with the shock his words delivered. Not here to destroy her? Had he come to kill somebody? "M. Bison ..." Cammy gasped, breathless. "I have come to destroy him. I will not let you stand in my way."

"It seems we have the same goal," T. Hawk replied. "Then what are we doing wasting our time fighting each other?"

"We have to eliminate each other in order to get to Bison," she replied, getting up to her knees.

"Hmph," T. Hawk scoffed, "how cowardly of him. Pitting his enemies against one another so he only has the task of defeating one of us. I'm starting to wonder how capable he is as a fighter, let alone the final boss of this tournament."

Cammy struggled to her feet, surprised that she hadn't met any resistance from her opponent yet. "Do not underestimate Shadowlaw," she said, almost wanting to wag her finger at him. "They have ruined many lives. I thought what they put me through was absolute hell. And I've only learned of others in recent developments."

"And you've just met another."

Cammy stopped talking. This man she was fighting, as different as he was from her, had been through equal suffering. It became more obvious to her that when it came to destroying people's lives, Shadowlaw didn't discriminate. She had to admit that she was slightly surprised to fight out even a man as huge and powerful as T. Hawk was just another toy to Shadowlaw. 

"H...how in the world did they ..." was all she was able to let out.

"It's a long story and this isn't the time to discuss it," T. Hawk said. "I refuse to further injure a potential ally in my fight against Shadowlaw. Will you forfeit the match?"

"I ..." In all honesty, Cammy wanted to say yes. She was only here for a match with Bison, and fighting all these other people that got in her way would've drastically drained any energy she'd been able to save sofar. But at the same time, she'd come such a long way, training every day for this opportunity, coming to Osaka and meeting up with the one man she'd ever loved in her life, the understanding of what Bison had done to Guile, Wagner, and her father driving her the whole way. If she quit now, she wouldn't only be letting herself down. She'd be letting everyone else down too - and Cranky, who supported her and believed in her - even though he was probably mad as hell at her right now, she couldn't afford to give up. She wouldn't have it. "I don't."

"Then I will," T. Hawk replied sharply. "But on one condition." He held up an index finger. "That you save a piece of Bison for me."

"Cammy smiled and gave a firm nod. I don't know how long I can keep others from taking that last piece though."

"Oh, I'll be there to take it," T. Hawk said, a grin spreading across his dark features. With that, he turned around and walked off the platform, much to the dismay of the spectators wanting the fight to continue, wanting to see Cammy get the shit beaten out of her.

"T. Hawk is forfeiting the match!" the announcer cried, his voice blaring above the boos of the crowd. "Why is this happening? What has Cammy said to him!" But there was nobody to answer the announcers questions, and it was clear the audience was just as stumped. But Cammy understood why, and she breathed a sigh of relief to know that they had someone else on their side now, a mammoth of a man that she was sure she could benefit from.

She felt someone tug at her wrist, bringing her arm high into the air. A quick glance to her left revealed a referee, in his striped uniform while the announcer declared, "I give you your winner, Cammy!"

**XXXXX **

Katarina slammed her hands down in dismay onto the wooden table in front of her from the viewers booth. She shot a look at Bison, sitting just in front of her but if he was surprised, he hid it well. Vega was beside her, sitting on the table surface polishing his nails with one leg elegantly crossed over the other. He didn't seem the slightest bit disturbed either.

"Can you believe what just happened!" Katarina shrieked. "She fucking won the match!"

"Need I remind you of whose presence you're in?" Bison asked calmly.

"With all due respects, sir, that can't happen!"

"It's not within the rules that victory can only be achieved by knockout," Bison explained, the tone of his voice never changing. "If she managed to convince him to forfeit the match, then perhaps the Killer Bee is worthy of facing me after all."

"Sir ..." Katarina said, her pride slightly damaged. "I thought you said she was going to be facing me."

"You aren't a participant in the tournament," Bison snapped. "You are a Shadowlaw scientist. You should feel honored that I'm even allowing you to lay a finger on her."

"But if she is to be facing you, won't my involvment ..."

"I don't expect you to win," Bison replied simply. "You need to understand just who you are dealing with. I understand that you are angry for what she did to Vega, but your rage blinds you. Unless you are able to overcome that, I see little chance of you defeating the Killer Bee in battle."

"That's why you want Vega to come with me ..." Katarina hissed through clenched teeth, trying with all her might to keep her rage in check.

"Oh, he'll let you have your fun. Vega always loves seeing beauty in action. But he'll stop it when you've taken too much, since you're not in the right mindset to make that call yourself."

Katarina stormed out of the room, steam shooting out of her ears. How dare Bison say those things to her! How dare he! He obviously didn't understand the kind of talent she had outside of the lab. He didn't seem to recognize that her brother was one of Shadowlaw's finest soldiers, which would reflect on her ability to conduct herself in battle. He didn't understand how hard she trained day and night with intensity. Why, if she ever got to face HIM in battle, she'd teach him a thing or two ...

"Ouch!" Katarina took a step back in shock, in the dark hallway leading from the viewer's booth. She held her nose, feeling her eyes water from the pain. It felt like she'd walked into a brick wall but she could've sworn there was nothing there when she arrived.

"Hey sis, are you okay?"

"Aaron, is that you?" As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw her brother standing before her. A faint light from far off in the hallway illuminating his broad, powerfully built silhouette.

"Come on, Kat," he said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb affectionately, "they call me Issei now."

"Oh, so now you're too cool to be called by your real name, since they've made you Admiral, huh?"

"How's the nose?"

"If you've bent it, I'm never talking to you again."

"Maybe you should try wearing your glasses next time," he snickered.

"Fuck those, I'm getting contact lenses."

"Oh, I didn't know they made contacts that thick." But the comment earned him a hard slap on the shoulder. In the darkness, he could see Katarina pull her hand back and wave it in the air in pain.

"Bastard," she said. "But what are you doing here? I thought you and your unit were supposed to be on some kind of special mission."

"We're patrolling the area for any interference ..."

"What kind of interference?"

"The Satsui no Hadou kind."

"But doesn't Bison want to harness that kind of power? Why would he want you to extinguish it?"

"He wants us to capture it," Issei explained. "And to keep Ryu from it. Ryu has proven to be more powerful without the Satsui no Hadou. There is something special about that warrior and Bison wants to get his hands on him. At the same time, we're expecting involvement from a certain demon ..."

"Akuma ..."

"Correct, and Bison might want him too. Whatever the case, I've revealed too much information to you already. Just promise me you won't try to get involved."

"I know my place."

"Oh, and congratulations," he said, giving his sister a pat on the shoulder. "I heard about Vega's return. Looks like the resuscitation project was a success. I have to admit, I had my doubts as well."

"When I'm the one heading the project, you have no reason to doubt its success."

"I'm proud of you, sis," Issei said, holding Katarina gently by her shoulders. "but I have to get going. I've got some news to report to Master Bison."

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit."

**XXXXX**

"Tatsumaki …" Ryu wound up his entire body, focusing all the chi he could possibly produce in that one moment and concentrated it into a specific point in his foot. "Senpuukyaku!" He then heapt into the air and kicked outwards, unleashing all the stored energy in giant, devastating waves that ripped apart his opponent, an Indian monk with an unseen elasticity in his appendages.

The waves of energy Ryu unleashed lit up the entire arena, outshining even the light beams that bore down heavily on the fighting platform from high above the dome. Every spectator that crammed every inch of the tiers had to shield their eyes from the bursts of light, blinding everyone while the sounds of Dhalsim's body being battered left and right were the only thing that could be heard for that brief moment.

The light vanished as quickly as it had come, and Ryu stood gasping for breath in the centre of the platform. The monk was, to Ryu's surprise, still on his feet, though blood adorned his face and the front of his body. He then pursed his lips and drew a deep breath, but Ryu's trained instincts told him that the monk wasn't merely breathing. He could feel the electricity in their air being pulled towards the strange monk and before he knew it, the largest flame he'd ever seen in his life shot out of his opponent's mouth towards him. The heat was so intense that it lightly charred Ryu's skin, bathing his entire world in a fiery orange glow.

"Yoga Flame!" the Dhalsim declared proudly.

Ryu scrambled to his feet, regaining his balance with impressive speed, and dodged a row of flaming projectile launched from Dhalsim's mouth, zigzagging between them, moving closer to his opponent for a devastating elbow strike. But just before Ryu could make physical contact, Dhalsim folded his legs under his body, and remained suspended in midair for a split second and vanished suddenly. Ryu's strike had completely missed as he looked around in confusion as to where his opponent could have disappeared to.

Like magic, Dhalsim materialized right behind Ryu and seized him by the shoulders and began burying his fist into Ryu's skull, blow after blow, in rapid succession. "Yoga, yoga, yoga …" he said, with each punch.

Ryu struggled to maintain his orientation as the blows landed painfully on the top of his head. He cupped his hands and pushed them outward at Dhalsim's chest with such force that it had shattered two of the three skulls the Indian monk wore around his neck. Pieces of bone dispersed into the air, while the remaining shards of the skulls still attached to the gold rings around Dhalsim's neck stabbed painfully into his skin. Soon, blood sprayed, joining the cloud of bone bits flying through the air.

The monk was knocked onto the platform, landing on his back. He wrapped his arms across his chest in pain, moaning in suffering. Ryu took a second to catch his breath and looked with pity upon his fallen opponent. Perhaps he should've controlled his strength a little more in battle. After all, he wasting it all on these opponents that the tournament threw his way.

The referee came to his side, lifting his arm into the air. "Your winner for this match, the Street Fighter Champion, Ryu!" And the crowd went wild with excitement while fireworks flashed in celebration of the most familiar face in the Street Fighter circuit.

Ironically, Ryu paid attention to none of it. He wasn't surprised, nor was he overly excited about his victory. The fact that Akuma could make his presence known anytime during the tournament nagged at him from that back of his mind. His senses scanned his immediate surroundings for any traces of the Satsui no Hadou, but he was unable to detect any. But he knew that this was not to last. Akuma had promised him a fight and on behalf of the path that fate had planned for him, he was going to accept the challenge. It was just a matter of time, just a waiting game now.

**  
XXXXX**

Wagner struggled to open his eyes but the bright white lights assaulting his vision hindered his efforts. His head ached. So did his neck, and come to think of it, the arms did too. The more he became aware of his body, the more it hurt. Where in the world was he? The steady rhythm of high pitched mechanical beeps sounded in his ear. As his vision slowly came into focus, he turned his head to get a better view of his surroundings, noticing that there was a body lying beside him, the body of a Latino man, olive skin, thickly built, eyes closed peacefully. He looked back up at the ceiling at realized he was lying down – in a soft, comfortable bed to boot.

"At last, you have awoken," a soft, feminine voice called. "I was beginning to wonder if my treatment was going to work."

Wagner turned his head in the other direction to face the mysterious speaker. He didn't recognize her soft, comforting voice that rang like bells in his ears. His glance revealed a voluptuous woman, dressed unlike any other person he'd ever seen in his life. Her hair was a deep shade of purple, flowing gently behind her in some unfelt breeze. A scar shaped like a lightning bolt lay between her eyes. A yellow scarf was wrapped around her slender shoulders, and Wagner's attention was drawn to it, though he couldn't quite figure out why. And he could've sworn he saw a bluish haze around one of her fists but attributed it to his returning vision.

"Who are you?" he asked, unsure of what else to ask her.

"Who I am is not what matters," she replied. Her words were as mysterious as her appearance.

"What matters is that you are alright, and that the Psycho Power no longer has a hold on your fragile mind."

"The brainwashing is … gone?" Wagner asked, unsure of how the lady had done if, if she was at all responsible.

She grinned and nodded her head. "You may return to the life you once led. Your friends are in grave danger."

Wagner forced himself to sit up, making the room spin around him. Another look at the Latino man beside him revealed he was also beginning to come around. "My friends … where are they?"

"The Street Fighter tournaments have begun," the mysterious woman replied, her tone low and cautious, almost like she was trying to warn them. "Your friends and family are participating as we speak and are no patch for the power that Bison wields."

"I will kill Bison with my bare hands," Wagner spat bitterly.

"You cannot even hope to touch him," the lady said, folding her arms across her chest.

"And what the hell do you know?" Wagner asked, getting a little more defensive than he'd intended.

"I know that you are a young fool," she teased, "just barely older than the troubled child Guile took under his wing. No matter how much you've grown as a person, as long as you allow that child to dictate your actions, you will always remain that young, immature, headstrong fool. The key to winning isn't how powerful you are. It's how well you understand your enemy. And you don't have a clue when it comes to M. Bison."

Her words enraged Wagner. He had never seen this woman in his life and here she was, standing in front of him with a smug smile plastered across her face, acting like she knew him better than he knew himself. The nerve she displayed made him see red for a moment, but he fought to keep his temper in check.

"What do you expect me to do? If I'm as useless as you're making me sound, why have you bothered reviving me from my sleep? Why did you waste your time?"

She shook her head, saying, "I never said I'd wasted my time. You don't need me to be assured that you have some serious power going on in that body of yours. You just need to know how to control it. Your friends need that power right now, though they don't know it themselves."

"Cammy, Guile," Wagner said urgently, "what happened to them? Are they alright?"

"They plan to go up against Bison," she repeated, "but are completely unaware of just how powerful the new Psycho Drive is. Bison is planning to capture the champion Street Fighter, Ryu and use his power to further enhance the Psycho Drive. Simultaneously, he hopes to harness the power of the Satsui no Hadou and use that too. Ryu is a powerful warrior standing alone. Can you imagine the kind of power Bison will possess once he combines Ryu's chi, the Satsui no Hadou, and the Psycho Drive? He will be nigh unstoppable. As it is, they've developed a new program to brainwash worthy warriors, enslaving them, turning them into nothing more but disposable Shadowlaw agents, not unlike the Doll Program. Shadowlaw has a lot going for them right now, and the longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop them."

"And how do you know all this? If I am to believe you, I will need to know just who you are."

"You must do something, Scott Wagner, you and Julian Marquez, that man lying beside you. You were both captured by Shadowlaw and turned into their mindless agents. That should be evidence enough in itself."

"You're not answering my question."

She rolled her eyes. "If it will get you out of here and to the rescue of the people most important to you in your life … my name is Rose."

**XXXXX**

"Who is he, Master Bison?" Issei asked. He stood tall above his master, who was seated. Issei folded his arms across his prominent chest and spoke angrily to Bison, something he'd never done in his entire career with Shadowlaw.

"Be seated," Bison ordered. "I will not tolerate my subordinates thinking they can even talk to me in such a manner, regardless of their rank."

"And I will not tolerate my own employers keeping my past from me," Issei replied, standing firm. "Who was that teenager I saw with the fiery haired foreigner today?"

"What makes you so interested in some random teen walking down the street?" Bison inquired. "You have a mission, soldier. And I don't need you paying attention to trivial details. What makes you think this teen is a part of your past?"

"His energy signature, his 'aura' if you will, was nearly identical to mine and Katarina's."

Bison almost choked on his own spit upon hearing those words. The only other person who would share similar chi energy with Admiral Issei and Katarina Feng would be their biological younger brother, Kenneth. But the youth had already been killed … unless someone intervened. But who?

"I want that teen eliminated," Bison hissed. "He was supposed to have been destroyed days ago, but apparently the task was not completed."

"Why would you waste your resources eliminating a mere brat like that?"

"Do not question my orders, soldier!"

"Not until I get some answers, Master Bison!" Admiral Issei insisted. "Katarina and I come from a broken family. Our entire lives, we grew up under the care of Shadowlaw, training hard everyday in our respective fields. We have shed tears, blood, and sweat for this organization without asking you once for an explanation on our family. We were only told that we were the children of a certain Dr. Tai Su Feng, and his wife Shao Mei. But who were these people? Where had they come from? Why does that teenager share the same chi energy as Katarina and I?"

Bison took a moment to choose his words carefully, staring at Admiral Issei right in the eyes. "That boy is responsible for the death of your father," he replied. "He was nothing but a petty thief living on the streets when he stole Dr. Feng's masterpiece, the Shadow Technology, thinking it was some kind of computer chip that he could sell on the streets and make some money off of. Your father chased after him, but the teen retaliated, pulling a knife from underneath his jacket. He stabbed Dr. Feng to death."

"And the similar chi signature?"

"I'm sure you're aware that the Shadow Technology was in fact biotechnology. It had a natural attraction to biological makeup."

"Yes."

"Your father, being the creator of the work obviously had regular contact with the work and accidentally deposited his DNA makeup. So when the teen stole the chip and unknowingly absorbed all the information it contained …"

Issei nodded, understanding the elaborate lie. "So not only is he a potential threat to our developments, but he killed my father and stole his best work."

"Dr. Feng must be avenged, Issei. I didn't want to tell you the story because I feared you might …"

"I have not lost my composure, sir. And you have my word, that teen will die on behalf of my father." "


	26. Chapter 21: Violent Confrontations

**Jami**Thanks for the birthday wishes! Yeah, it was last … Wednesday that I turned 22! And not only that, but I got a job, an industry night and made some good connections with the people in the graphic design industry, and a contract position in the following two days! So busy, but alas, I shall find time to write!

**Vammy**Ask and ye shall receive. The chick fight begins here, but it's not over yet. This is by far one of the longest chapters I've ever written in such a short amount of time (2 days) but I had too many ideas to get out at once, and lots of action sequences. So, enjoy!

**E-Z B: **It's hard to include too many of the lesser known street fighters without clogging up the cast. But since T. Hawk is already set up for the final battle, I'll see how many more I can squeeze in. After all, if everyone's gonna be facing Bison at the end, they'll need a lot of street fighters to take him down. I'm also planning a nice little twist at the very end. Those of you who've played Super Street Fighter II Turbo and made it to Akuma might probably know what might happen …

**XXXXX**

Kenny had finally done it. He'd managed to sneak away from Cranky's side, and thank goodness for that, too. He had no idea how long he could stand Cranky's emotional complex. He'd speak angrily to Kenny, like he'd done something wrong, but the moment he'd move away to try and give him some space, Cranky would yell even louder and demand that he come back because with Shadowlaw guards running rampant all over the place, who knew what kind of trouble Kenny could get into?

The youth decided that he'd had enough and simply walked off, leaving Cranky back at the arena while he wasn't looking. Kenny knew exactly where he was headed – the competitors' quarters. Cammy had just come out from her match and he wanted to go visit her in the recovery compound and congratulate her on her victory. Kenny would've asked his brother to come, but Cranky more probably still angry at her and besides, his tagging along would've defeated the whole purpose of Kenny's trip.

His shoed feet tapped rapidly on the floor as he dashed through the corridors of the compound, the VIP pass around his neck bobbing with every step. The urgency in his steps was due more to putting some distance between him and Cranky in the short time he wouldn't notice Kenny's disappearance as opposed to reaching Cammy quicker. The dome was huge, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference whether he walked or ran part way as far as saving time went.

Someone stepped into his path. Kenny struggled to stop but his momentum overpowered him, sending him crashing into the stranger. The blonde man that he'd crashed into was thrown off balance, whereas Kenny bounced off him and landed on his rear on the floor.

"Ouch, for fuck sakes!" he cried, gripping his face.

"Geez, I'm so sorry, buddy," the man said, offering a hand to pull Kenny to his feet.

The youth removed his hand from his face and looked up, recognizing the face instantly. Kenny scrambled backwards and back onto his feet, now suddenly wishing he hadn't left Cranky's side. He widened his stance and brought up his fists, ready to do battle.

"You don't fool me," Kenny said bravely. "You don't think I recognize you? You're that guy that ambushed Guile and me and made us crash the fucking car!"

"Kenny, is it?" the man asked. "I'm Wagner, Guile's son." He put his hands up to show he meant know harm, but the stubborn teen wasn't believing any of it. "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you."

"Could've fooled me," Kenny replied sharply, still gripping his nose in pain.

"I'm looking for Cammy. I hear she's in danger and I want to make sure she's alright."

"I'm not showing you to anyone!"

"Look, I was under the control of Bison and Shadowlaw," Wagner explained, after sighing in frustration. "I had no idea what I was doing. You should know that. We've met before, back at the prison cells. We tried to escape together. You remember, right?"

"Yeah, I remember," Kenny replied. "But … you're okay now? And I mean like, seriously okay. You're not gonna go all Shadowlaw on me again?"

"Scout's honor," Wagner said, raising his hand.

Kenny shrugged. "Well I guess Cammy could probably kick your ass if you tried anything on her," he said. "Alright, I'll bring you to her. I was actually on my way down to the recovery quarters."

"Recovery quarters?" Wagner's eyes went wide in alarm. "Is she okay?"

"She's just come out from a match," Kenny explained. "I don't know how she's doing, but whatever happened, Cammy won."

"She's not too hurt, is she? God, I should've been there …"

"It's a fucking tournament," Kenny said. "She knew she was going to get hurt. Cammy can take care of herself so don't worry about it."

Wagner raised his eyebrows at the language the teen used. He was around the same age Wagner was when Guile had him taken off the streets and into his care, and probably equally rude and disrespectful. But Kenny was definitely more head strong than he was, more capable. Wagner could see it in the way he fell into a fighting stance the moment he recognized his face, remembering the threat Wagner once posed.

"It's good to see you're feeling better already," Wagner noted. "How's your back?"

"Oh, yeah, it's healing pretty nicely," Kenny replied. "It hurts to move sometimes, but lately with all the shit that's been happening, I haven't really noticed. Shadowlaw tried to have me killed, you know."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, they were gonna have me jump off a cliff, but Delta Red came in time. Okay, I think the recovery quarters are just around the corner and we should be there."

**XXXXX**

"How're your injuries healing up?" Ken asked excitedly, slapping Chun Li lightly on the shoulder as they headed from the recovery quarters over to the food stands. It was Ken's idea. He was starving as usual, not having eaten anything that day to train in preparation for his match. But now that he had taken out E. Honda, he was one step closer to Bison, though he doubted he would be facing him, as no doubt he'd have to get through Ryu first. Anyway, it was time to celebrate and what better way to do it than with some real Japanese grub? It had been awhile since he came to Japan after leaving as a teenager, and coming back only to pay respects to his dead Sensei and to participate in the Street Fighter tournaments.

Chun Li rubbed her shoulder lightly from Ken's slap. It was a friendly gesture but it stung, even for the strongest woman in the world. Didn't men know how to control their strength? God, those animals …

"I think you just made it worse," she said.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Hey, how about I treat you to some takoyaki?"

"Deep friend octopus balls?" Chun Li asked.

"Fried in batter with bacon and cheese!" Ken declared, raising his arm into the air with excitement. "Osaka delicacy, man! You'll love it."

"I dunno, Ken," Chun Li replied, patting her stomach. "I've got to watch my weight."

"What? No way. C'mon, how heavy are you?"

She scoffed at him. "You expect me to tell you? Haha, no way."

"I swear, there's just no trust in this world nowadays …"

"Shh!" Chun Li hushed, putting a finger to her lip. She threw an arm across Ken's chest and pushed him and herself to a wall, pressing their bodies against it. Suddenly, just a few feet down the hall, three armed Shadowlaw guards walked by, all of them toting heavy firearms. They marched in unison, heavy booted feet thumping on the ground as they walked. Instead of being merely strapped to their backs, the soldiers held what looked like automatic rifles in their hands in front of their bodies. The largest man, the most muscularly built, marched in front, standing a full head above his comrades, and he was uniformed differently compared to his peers. He wore a dark green vest over a black, body hugging T-shirt. The belt around his waist was loaded with rounds for his gun, while simultaneously holding up loose fitting army fatigues. The red beret on his head covered any hair he might've had, with only the tips of re-growing hair showing at the base of his skull. The other two soldiers were covered from head to toe in black armor and helmets with visors that covered their visages, making them look like some form of futuristic warriors.

Chun Li waited until she could no longer hear their footsteps before removing her finger from her mouth, and releasing Ken from the wall.

"What the hell is your problem?" Ken whispered, not wanting to attract attention.

"They're going to use those guns," she replied. "They're going to kill somebody."

"But who!" Ken asked. "There are tournament officials crawling all over the goddamned place. There's nobody here but spectators and participants. There's nobody for them to shoot!"

"Terrorists?"

"Tch," Ken said, rolling the thought off his back, "they ARE terrorists. Come on, let's just get out of here and grab some food." He took Chun Li by the elbow and tugged gently, but was surprised to find resistance. "What's the matter?"

Chun Li didn't say anything but her face said it all. She looked at him, her pink, glossy lips pressed into a straight line and shook her head slightly. Then she spoke. "I want to find out who they're after. I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Okay, fine, you win," Ken said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "We'll go after them, but I don't want us getting shot and killed. There are three of them, and two of us, plus they've got big ass guns. We may be the best street fighters in the circuit but we sure as hell can't take bullets very well."

"I'm not saying we intercept them," Chun Li said.

"Then why else would you go after them? To watch?"

"Perhaps I can get some information. Think about it. They're about to kill someone because whoever it is knows something Bison feels uncomfortable about them knowing. Or someone is a traitor. I just want to find out more and perhaps it could lead us to some other allies in the street fighter circuit."

"So you're going to watch. Aren't you just a lukewarm, fuzzy person to be around?"

"Be serious, Ken!" Chun Li demanded. "This is business!"

"Oh, nothing personal at all, I'm sure."

"We have to go after them before they get too far away," Chun Li said, grabbing Ken by the elbow. Ken groaned and followed her, the both of them trotting silently down the hall, trying to be as quiet as possible so the guards wouldn't catch they were being followed, and to be able to hear their footsteps. They twisted and turned through the winding corridors, straining their ears to follow the sounds of booted feet pounding against the tile.

"I think they went this way," Ken whispered to Chun Li, pointing left.

"No, they went this way!" she pointed right.

"Hey, I know my hearing and I'm telling you …"

"They went right!" she insisted. "Look at the dirt on the ground!"

"Oh ..." They guards were walking with such heavy footsteps that the dirt lodged in between the grooves of their soles had been loosened with the impact, forming a trail of grain and soil that wasn't obvious to the untrained eye, but Chun Li had spotted it quickly enough.

**XXXXX**

The directory signs hanging from the ceiling were obvious enough. Cammy was behind the next door on their left. Kenny went ahead first, testing the handle to see it was locked. Thankfully, it wasn't as it turned the whole way and he pushed against it, opening it up to reveal a mostly white room, not unlike the hospital ward he'd come from earlier that morning. Sitting comfortably on a massive bed, with bandages wrapped around her shoulder and half her face, Cammy turned away from the portable television set resting on a mobile stand at the side of her bed to the new visitor who just interrupted her from her couch-potato daze.

Upon seeing him, her soft features lit up into a bright smile, welcoming him into the room. "Kenny, it's so good to see you!" Cammy said. "Thanks for coming."

"Someone else wants to see you too," Kenny said. "Come on." He motioned for Wagner to enter the room. The moment he entered and walked right into Cammy's field of vision, she cried his name excitedly, and he half ran to her side, pulling her into a deep embrace.

"Oh my gosh, I missed you so much!" Cammy said, rubbing the back of her brother's neck affectionately.

"Take care of yourself, Cammy," Wagner pleaded, running his hand up and down her back. He was choking back tears of relief upon seeing that she was okay … sort of. "I want a sister to be there for me when I need her and you can't do that if you're dead."

"How did you find your way over here?" she asked.

"I came as soon as I could," he explained. "There was this weird lady who claimed she healed me. She called herself Rose."

"Who was she? How did she have the power to heal you? Shadowlaw's brainwashing technology is so …"

"I don't know," Wagner replied. He felt guilty for having to tell Cammy this. If Rose had been around when she needed help recovering from her own brainwashing experience under Shadowlaw, perhaps she could have avoided all the bullshit she'd put up with all her life. In Wagner's case, he was cured in an instant. Or at least, that's what it felt like for now.

"Anyway, I guess what matters is that you're okay. Kenny brought you here?"

"He showed me the way, yeah. I would've gotten lost otherwise. Good thing I ran into him when I did … literally. He was on his way to see you."

"Don't forget to thank him."

"Yeah Mom, I know."

Cammy slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Wagner, there are things I'd like to discuss with him as well. Do you think I could have a minute with Kenny in private? We can catch up after that. I don't have a match for the rest of the day."

"Sure thing, sis. Just give me a call when you feel like hooking up."

"Yup."

Wagner turned and headed for the door, motioning for Kenny to go ahead and approach Cammy at her bedside. "She's all yours."

Kenny approached her slowly, realizing how strange the situation was. Cammy was lying in her bed, weak, and recovering from her injuries and instead of Cranky there by her side, supporting her the whole way, it was Kenny.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, unsure of what else he could've said.

"I am now," Cammy admitted, "after you brought Wagner here for me."

"I wasn't going to," Kenny said. "I wasn't sure if he was still under the influence of Shadowlaw's brainwashing. But he assured me that he was okay."

"I'm happy you did, so thank you very much."

Kenny shrugged. "It was the least I could do after you brought Cranky to me in Raccoon City."

Cranky … As much as Cammy didn't want to discuss it, she knew it was inevitable. After what happened this morning, leaving Cammy and Kenny to take care of the bill at the restaurant after violently storming out, much to the chagrin of the other patrons, an update was due.

"Is he still angry?"

"Oh hell yeah," Kenny nodded.

"It figures. I shouldn't have kept a secret like that from him for so long. God, I wish he would just speak to me, you know? Just tell me what's on his mind and everything."

"Trust me you wouldn't want that. I've been around him all afternoon and he's just being a dickhead to me."

"It's not your fault," Cammy insisted. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this. Cranky's right. I had no right involving you. I just wish he could forgive me."

"Cammy, how many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault? I'm the one who agreed to keep your secret for you, and in turn, I contributed willingly."

"You don't understand, Kenny. You're Cranky's brother, his responsibility, and the only family he has. I went behind his back and unintentionally turned you against him. That's why he's pissed – and the fact that I kept this secret from him for so long. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"He's depriving me of taking responsibility where I should take it."

"Our relationship problems should involve only the two of us, nobody else, let alone the teenage brother of …"

"After what I went through in Raccoon City, you have no, NO fucking right to pass me off as 'just another teenager' and I don't care about the ten year gap between us."

Cammy sighed. "But you're not listening."

"No, I just disagree."

"But if you'd just …"

"Now instead of pointing fingers at ourselves, why don't we figure out how to fix your relationship with him?"

"You … you want us to be together?" Was Kenny, the only person in the world Cranky considered family, approving of their relationship?

"Uh huh," he replied, nodding his head violently. "You're good for him. He spent the last nine years regretting my 'death' while I had no idea he existed. I don't know what he did to alleviate the pain …

"Yeah, like every woman that crossed his path and three bottles of Irish whiskey a night."

"…and I don't want to know."

Cammy bit her lip.

"All I know is that you were there for him while I was blissfully unaware, and you brought joy into his life. And I don't mean a quick fix here and there."

"Well …" Cammy smirked.

"Still don't wanna know! The point is you didn't just bring joy into his life, but meaning. And I want my brother to be with the woman who can do that for him."

Cammy's eyes went watered with his words. She felt her heart melt into a lukewarm liquid and sniffed.

Kenny looked alarmed. "A…are you okay? I'm sorry … was it something I said?" His eyes darted left and right, anywhere but directly at her. His hands grew sweaty and he began to stutter nervously. "Please don't cry," he begged.

She opened her arms and said, "Come give your Auntie Cammy a hug!"

**XXXXX**

Cranky glanced at his watch and frowned. Kenny had been gone for the last twenty-eight minutes. He said he'd only be making a trip to the washroom, but it didn't take that long now, did it? Eliza must've noticed something, because she was looking at Cranky with a concerned expression on her face.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked her.

Eliza shook her head. "He just went to the washroom," she explained.

"He's taking forever."

"Well he said he was feeling a little sick."

"Then maybe I should go check on him." Cranky got up to leave, but Eliza grabbed him by the arm, one hand on his wrist, the other around the elbow, blue eyes silently pleading with him. "I'm sure Kenny will be fine," she insisted. "Just sit down and enjoy the rest of the bouts, okay?" Cranky looked at her suspiciously. Eliza tore her eyes away from his green eyes and looked at her knees instead, subconsciously chewing on her lower lip.

"I spent my childhood conning and lying people out of money," Cranky said. "Don't think I don't know what a liar looks like."

"Please stay here," Eliza said, indirectly confirming her lie. "Kenny will be alright."

Cranky sat back down, put his hand over hers and looked directly at her eyes, disturbing Eliza greatly though she tried not to make eye contact with him. "Tell me where he is, Eliza."

"I … I can't, Cranky, I'm sorry," she whispered. "He made me promise not to say anything and I just can't betray that …"

"He's my kid brother," Cranky explained, playing on Eliza's motherly qualities. He was quite impressed with himself, still managing to think so quickly on his feet, playing on his victim's weaknesses to get what he wanted. "You know I don't want anything bad happening to him. And you took care of him once so I know you know how concerned I am. From one guardian to another, Eliza, please."

Eliza took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "He went to see Cammy."

Then Cranky got angry.

**XXXXX**

Guile was wheezing now with the effort he had exerted during his bout with Fei Long, an action star from Hong Kong. But he was unlike any other action star Guile ever encountered. Fei Long actually knew how to fight! With the exception of Ken Masters, Guile had never heard of any other famous fighter who actually fought outside of the ring. He had underestimated Fei Long at first, but quickly learned his lesson after the first few seconds of the fight.

The man moved like lighting, delivering kicks and punches with limbs moving so quickly, the move was over and Guile's body was hurting before he even knew what had happened. It was after those first few initial seconds when Guile knew what do to. He was always a cheap fighter and he knew it. But that was what his military straining had taught him to do. Set up the opponent to leap and him and right before the opponent's strike was to make contact, jump up and perform a powerful flipping back kick, a move that he nicknamed the "Flash Kick," and fittingly so. This was one of the most powerful moves in Guile's arsenal. Was quickly executed, his leg would swing in a wide backwards as he performed the back flip, and tear with through the opponent with its momentum.

Getting the opponent to leap at him, however, was the tricky part. To do so, Guile would throw projectile after projectile at Fei Long by pulling his arms back to gather the surrounding chi energy in his fists, and swing them forward, much like the pincers of an insect snapping around its prey. Only instead of grabbing his opponent who would be standing outside grappling distance, twin blades of chi, gathered in his fists, would be sent spiraling towards Fei Long at the speed of sound, a move called the "sonic boom." They were corny names, he was aware, because they just didn't sound as cool as Ken or Ryu's, like their "hadouken" or "shoryuken" which were originally in Japanese, but he was also sure those moves sounded equally ridiculous in their native languages.

Fei Long was quick, and was able to move fluidly between Guile's projectile chains. He dodged once, crouched under the next and jumped over the third. Guile was lucky that Fei Long decided to jump after the last one, allowing him to launch himself into a flash kick, kicking his opponent out of the air. Fei Long somersaulted backwards and moved in again, the pattern repeating itself.

"Keep fighting this predictably and it will spell the end of you," he advised, closing in the distance between him and Guile again.

"Quit talking and start fighting like a man," Guile spat back.

Fei Long smirked and this time, crouched under Guile's third sonic boom. As the Air Force veteran jumped into another Flash Kick, Fei Long kept low until Guile was well above his head and flew into his own anti-aerial move, kicking his leg up in a vicious axe kick while he spun his body around rapidly. The chi surrounding his leg was so intense that in addition to kicking Guile with the force of a minor explosion, it charred his skin as well.

Guile fell to the tarp in a heap of pain, trying his best to ignore the screaming his skin and bones were doing. His brain was being overpowered by the intense agony, and his vision was weakening as a result, but he refused to be taken down by one simple move after he'd successfully connected so many attacks.

"And the Air Force veteran is down for the count, ladies and gentlemen," the announcer cried. The words ran in Guile's ears like an alarm. He had to get up now or he'd lose the match.

"Come on, American," Fei Long taunted, "I thought your country had more to instill in its warriors than this. I was expecting a challenge!"

"You'll get your challenge!" Guile spat, throwing a devastating uppercut into Fei Long's chin when he'd come close enough to be hit. Guile's fist forced Fei Long to clamp shut on the tip of his tongue, causing the man to start spitting blood. "If my predictability is my downfall, then your overconfidence is yours!" Guile said, standing victoriously over his fallen opponent, who was now squatting on the ground, one hand over his mouth, the other nursing his jaw. Guile yelled off to the sides. "Get a medic in here or he'll bleed himself unconscious … or worse."

Guile didn't even wait for Fei Long to forfeit the match. He knew that if his opponent decided to continue the fight, there was no way he could finish it, bleeding as badly as he was. Guile stepped off the platform even while the announcer and the referees were trying to figure out if he was indeed the winner. But all logic told Guile that he was. He could've stayed to prove himself further by continuing the fight himself, but he wasn't going to have anyone die in his hands, at least not anyone who didn't deserve it.

Guile walked headed back to his quarters, swiping a towel from the air, thrown to him by the medics on his side of the ring. They surrounded him like a bunch of rabid fans, but he knew they weren't – he wasn't Ryu for crying out loud. No, instead of asking for autographs, the medics swarmed over him and sprayed him with water which only burned his skin, and attempted to rub some kind of traditional medicated oil on his wounds, which hurt even more.

"Ouch!" Guile cried, pulling his arm away from them. "Stop it! I'm fine! You're gonna kill me with that stuff!" But his protests fell upon deaf ears – or maybe the language barrier was the issue. He remembered Kenny translating to the police authorities for him yesterday. If it wasn't for him, Guile might have been hauled down to the police station trying to explain to the officials that he was a representative of the American military – in cuffs. Jeez, where was that kid when Guile needed him the most?

Desperate to get away from his tormentors, Guile broke into a full speed run, as fast as he could, putting as much distance as possible between him and the people who were apparently trying to heal him. They yelled after him, but hell, if they weren't going to listen to his cries of pain because they didn't understand his English, why in the world should he pretend to understand their Japanese? His body language had been a pretty good hint as to what he wanted but they ignored it. So he was going to ignore theirs.

Someone ahead was frantically walking around ahead of him, following a hallway perpendicular to the one Guile was running through. Even from this distance, Guile could tell who it was by the broad build and the red hair.

"Cranky?" he called out, his voice echoing through the empty corridors.

"Oh, Mr. Guile!" Cranky said, breathing a sigh of relief. Cranky was naturally slightly intimidated by Guile, being Cammy's adoptive father. But if he was nervous now, he didn't know it, instead appearing rather concerned and frantic to Guile, like a parent looking for a lost child. "Have you seen Kenny? I think he might be in the recovery quarters with Cammy but I'm not sure where it is. You're headed there, right, after your match?"

"No way in hell," Guile said, "after they tried rubbing that burning oil on me."

"Was it clear and smelled really harsh?"

Guile nodded.

"Chinese disinfectant oil," Cranky explained. "It stings, but it's good for cleaning wounds."

Guile grunted. "Maybe you could've told those guys to stop torturing me with their 'medicines'. So you're looking for Kenny, huh? Well the recovery quarters are over …"

**BANG! **A gunshot fired, echoing deafeningly in the empty halls.

"…there …"

**XXXXX**

The door suddenly burst open with such force it was ripped from its hinges. The minor explosion caught Kenny and Cammy off guard. They both choked and waved their hands in front of their faces, trying to clear the air directly beneath their noses. Through the fading smoke and falling debris stepped a woman, covered with an immaculately white lab coat, despite the dust cloud. A pair of spectacles was tucked into her breast pocket. She had silky, jet black hair tied into a bun at the back of her head, clear, pale skin and ruby lips which smiled wickedly as she laid eyes upon Cammy on the bed, in such a vulnerable state.

"W...who are …" Cammy asked, but was silenced quickly, as the lady covered the gap between her and Cammy faster than any normal human should have, delivered a hard slap with the back of her hand to Cammy's face.

Her head was thrown sideways in that instant. Cammy scrambled to gather her thoughts at who this woman was, and just why she might be so hostile towards her. But there was no time for her to make any sense of it, as she was struck again, this time with a fist, the punch sending her flying off the bed and onto to floor by Kenny's feet, bed sheets and all.

Kenny looked down at her, and back up at the assailant, a beautiful woman of the orient. She looked familiar to him …

"Get out of here," Cammy ordered, snapping him back into reality.

"Not without you," he said, bending down to lift her off the ground.

The mysterious woman intervened, seizing Kenny by the wrist, twisting it painfully behind his back. Kenny cried out in agony, the tears welling in his eyes. The woman put her heeled foot on his back, right where his scars were healing from the Shadow Technology extraction surgery and pushed him into the wall with her leg, digging her heel into his wound.

"Cammy, RUN!" he cried through sobs of pain.

"This isn't your fight, boy!" the woman hissed.

Cammy got to her feet, but remained crouched low to the ground. With one swift moment, she kicked both her legs out, pulling her body forward and parallel with the ground. She traveled in a straight line, spinning as she went, feet first, aiming for the woman's heels. "Cannon Drill!"

The woman threw off her lab coat revealing a dark uniform underneath, one that showed off her bare, shapely legs, but completely covered her upper body. There was a small, golden tie beneath her neck, on her chest. The uniform looked so familiar to Cammy, it didn't take her long to figure out where it came from. It was the very uniform that Bison clothed the Dolls in. Only this woman, whoever she was, had no hat, no matching blue stockings covering her legs, and a personality – something the Dolls were deprived off.

The woman fell into a defensive crouch, blocking Cammy's Cannon Drill. As Cammy landed and recovered from the move, scraping her thigh across the ground in the process, her assailant kicked her leg up into the air, and her whole body moved upwards with it. "Cannon Spike!" Her heeled feet connected with Cammy's jaw, nearly knocking the consciousness from her body. Cammy wasn't sure if she was just losing it from being battered around like that, but was this woman using her own fighting style against her?

She bent down and picked Cammy off the ground by the collar of her hospital gown. "This is for taking Vega away from me, the only man that ever meant anything to me in my life!" She punched Cammy across the face, making her spit blood.

"Who … the fuck are you?" Cammy asked, her voice thick with aggression.

The woman smiled. "Don't you recognize me?" she asked. "I helped work on you during the Doll Program. It's fitting that you're the only one who still fights. The twelve other useless girls had their memories wiped after the Pyscho Drive's initial destruction."

How dare this woman deny all the suffering Cammy went through? How big was her ego to the point where she expected Cammy to pull through, while the other ex-Dolls struggled to recover their lives, their friends, families, and their own selves? Just because she worked on Cammy and not the others?

"My name is Katarina Feng," she said, "Daughter of the greatest Shadowlaw scientist, Dr. Tai Su Feng."

"Feng?" Cammy asked, the name immediately clicking with her. But before she could say anything, she ate a back fist that connected twice, throwing her against the wall of the recovery ward. Katarina had Cammy's trademark spinning knuckle move. Where in the world did she learn to fight?

As Katarina moved in for the kill, Kenny dashed to intercept. He leapt off his feet, performing a mid-air somersault, catching Katarina by the neck between his heels. He flipped his body over again, never releasing her as she sailed through the air with him, smashing Katarina into the ground, cushioning his own fall with her body. Kenny landed, and jumped off, digging his heels into her chest.

Katarina may have appeared like a delicate China doll, but she was more durable than that. She picked herself off the floor and wiped the trail of blood flowing form her lip. "You got your chance to escape, boy!" She pulled her body back and crouched low. "Sniping Arrow!" Katarina launched her body through the air like a projectile, performing the fastest flying kick Kenny had ever seen. He tried to move out of the way, but her foot scraped his cheek while he moved, leaving a burning wound.

She'd missed, but just barely. While Katarina landed, Kenny performed a low roundhouse, nailing her in the knees, brought his foot back for a second strike to the midsection and for a third time across Katarina's face. She stumbled back, gripping her face, spat a wad of blood and jumped forward, hands bent into claws, ready to rip him limb from limb.

Katarina clawed his face, adding to the fresh cut on his cheek with three more. The dead layer of skin on his face was peeling off now, burning him like an open flame on bare skin. But in doing so, she had turned her back on the bigger threat, Cammy, who was trained not only in the deadly Shadowlaw arts, but now with Delta Red as well. She realized this as Kenny fell to the ground, managing just barely to hold himself up, noticing that though she was trying to catch her breath, it didn't take as much out of her as she expected, if she were to be facing Cammy. But the realization dawned on her few a few seconds too late as Cammy leapt on her back, putting Katarina in a sleeper hold.

"Go get Wagner!" Cammy ordered. "I'll keep her busy for the time being!"

Katarina screeched an awful cry, struggling to throw Cammy off her back before she could lose consciousness from the hold. Kenny nodded firmly and made a mad dash from the door, as fast as his back wound would allow him to move. The last thing he heard before making an exit were the grunts and cries of frustration and effort being exerted between the two women. He dashed past the broken door, stepping on it once, feeling the wood collide knock against the tiling beneath his feet. He rounded the corner and called out into the hallway, still clouded slightly with the dust lingering in the air.

"Wagner! Get in here, we need your …" The sight of Wagner's broken body greeted him, lying face down on the ground with a pool of blood forming beneath his head. Kenny bent down, place his hands on his broad shoulders and shook Wagner lightly. "Wake up, Wagner!" he cried. "Cammy's in trouble! You got to …"

_Click_!

Kenny looked up and found himself staring straight into the barrel of an automatic rifle. Behind the weapon was the biggest, meanest, most intimidating battle-scarred soldier he'd ever seen. It was the strange security guard Cranky noticed earlier that day. Kenny struggled to form some kind of logical sentence, trying at the same time to figure out just what the hell was going on when …

**BANG! **


	27. Chapter 22: Desparate for Attention

Ken and Chun Li's heads snapped towards the direction of the gunshot. They shot a glance at each other, worry etched in their features, their heart rates suddenly climbing within a matter of seconds. They didn't say anything to each other. It was clear as to what had to be done and they raced towards the source of the bang. Ken's stomach grumbled as they ran but the adrenaline in his system made it easy to hide his hunger. They ran as the corridors passed them, each one looking like the one they just passed. Heads twisted and turned at every junction but it was becoming clear to them that the more time slipped by, the more they were losing their way unless they managed to see the violence they just heard.

"It's this way," Chun Li said, pointing right. Ken wasn't entirely sure he agreed with her. She seemed to just pull that direction out of her ass without even thinking about it. There was no way she could tell, with the bang echoing off the walls. It sounded like it had come from all directions at the same time.

"Alright, let's go," Ken conceded. He had his own doubts, but running off in some arbitrary direction was better than just standing there, especially when he didn't have any clue on where to go either. They continued running, scanning every hall that came their way, looking for some sign of blood, a dead body, crying, or screaming, but that was a lot to ask for considering they hadn't even seen another person in their travels, dead or alive.

Chun Li was tempted to stop to catch her breath. A minute had gone by, a full minute that they'd spent running and it was fruitless. It didn't seem like that long of a time period when she thought about it, but the entire journey, proving uneventful as it was, began to slow the adrenaline and her body's weaknesses were starting to overpower her.

"Holy shit," Ken whispered, right when Chun Li slowed down. Her first thought was that he almost crashed into her, knowing that he wasn't running that far behind her. But the source of Ken's exclamation was something else. Someone else.

Chun Li followed his gaze and saw the figure of a man standing before them; an effeminate man with a white rose between his long, slender figures. As his lips spread across his face into a grin, she noticed that they were shiny, as if he'd applied lip gloss to them.

"Vega!" she exclaimed.

"It's been awhile, my flower," he giggled.

Ken and Chun Li raised their fists, prepared for a battle with the Spanish matador, but he remained unimpressed with them, almost scoffing at them as they prepared for the danger he posed.

"How are you enjoying the show?" Vega asked. "My beautiful Katarina has been unleashed and she's doing quite a good job. Lord Bison never approved of one of his best scientists playing a role on the battlefield, but I think he will be most impressed by her results. The Killer Bee stands no chance against …"

"What have you done to Cammy?" Ken demanded, taking a step closer to Vega, putting himself in front of Chun Li. She scowled at the action. Vega was hers to take down. She wanted every Shadowlaw member to fall under her, and she would be damned if someone else got to destroy them before she could.

"Stand down," Vega ordered with a strange superior tone in his voice, talking as if he was speaking to a stubborn child. "You should feel honored that I am willing to show you such beauty and grace by not bringing the mask with me. I have not come here to fight."

"No you've come here to gloat," Chun Li spat bitterly.

"Precisely," Vegan replied. "There will be plenty of time for us to face each other in battle."

"Why bother with that when we could just take you on right now?" Ken challenged, taking another step closer.

Chun Li had allowed him to get as close to Vega as she was willing to let him. She reached an arm out and grabbed his elbow, pulling him back towards her, saying, "No, Ken, not yet."

"You fools have yet to realize that I am one of the four fighters the street fighter finalists will face at the end of the tournament. You will fight me in a caged match in front of an energetic crowd. If you want to get to Lord Bison, your best bet is fighting his three bodyguards in a no-holds barred tournament. Otherwise, Lord Bison is far too wise to show his face in public."

"Then I'll be seeing you there," Ken said, "especially after what you've done to Cammy."

"Old feelings die hard," Vega replied. "You're the stereotypical male, one of aggressiveness, brashness, and ugliness, a stereotype that I have been fighting my whole life. Why do you still fight for the Killer Bee, even though she's left the past you shared with her exactly where it belongs – in the past?"

"Because unlike the cold hearted bastard you are," Ken retorted, "I still care for her."

"That's because she didn't stab you in the heart," Vega stated simply, "literally." He lifted a flap of the dark blue trench coat he wore, revealing his bare chest, and three circular scars on his left pectoral, almost directly above the sternum, a little to the left.

Chun Li reeled back in shock. "Y… you should have died!" But Vega could only stand there and enjoy their reactions.

**XXXXX**

"No, this can't be happening." The thoughts ran through Cranky's head in a vicious cycle as he and Guile hurried. The recovery quarters were just around the corner. "I almost lost Kenny. I can't lose Cammy now, not after everything we've been through together, and not how it ended." Any anger he harbored towards Cammy was gone now, replaced by an immeasurable guilt and regret. He wanted her to be safe. He begged to whoever was listening in the sky that her life would not end, that he would be given a chance to make things better with her, to make things right.

Then he noticed the footsteps behind him slowly fading. Guile had been following him, but why was he slowing down all of a sudden? He turned around for a quick look, seeing that Guile had slowed down to a trot, attempting to catch his breath. Cranky backtracked a few steps towards Guile, but the older man pointed weakly with a limp arm in the direction they'd been heading.

"Go," he said simply. "Cammy needs you."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be alright. I just came out from a fight and I'm a little exhausted. Don't worry about me." Cranky nodded and continued, his powerful legs pushing his body faster and faster with every step as he sprinted.

Then he found what he was looking for, only not the exact situation he was expecting. That intimidating soldier he spotted on the upper levels earlier that afternoon was standing with his back towards Cranky with a rifle in hand. A normal person would need two hands to get a good grip on the firearm, but this guy was huge. His back muscles were visibly rippling beneath the form fitting black T-shirt he wore. This arm, thicker and more defined than Cranky's own was enough to lift the heavy weapon with little effort.

The soldier stood over Kenny – not Cammy, as Cranky had been expecting. The teen was sitting on the ground, reeling backwards on hands and feet, his eyes focused on a smaller crater in the ground between his ankles.

The soldier spoke. "I'm afraid your skull won't take that round as nicely as the tile did."

"Who the hell are you?" Kenny asked, fear gripping his voice. But he was answered by the barrel of the weapon being pointed at his forehead and a click of the gun.

"Before you die, know this. You've murdered a Shadowlaw legend in cold blood, one of our best scientists – Dr. Tai Su Feng, my FATHER!"

And then the gun fired a second time, but not before Kenny could kick his foot at it, sending the barrel just barely an inch off target. The bullet plowed through the air, skinning his shoulder and ripping his shirt sleeve in the process. Kenny felt warm blood oozing from the open wound. The bullet hadn't entered his body, but it had cut his skin. He looked at his wound, and then back up at the irate soldier, and then behind him and saw Cranky rushing towards the soldier at full speed. Cranky's face was flushed with hate, his lips twisted into a grimace, his green eyes seeing nothing but red.

"Cranky, help!" Kenny cried.

The soldier spun around but it was too late for him to prepare for the tackle that sent him barreling backwards onto his back. Cranky was on top of him like a fat kid on cake, pounding the soldier's face with the force of a sledge hammer. The soldier didn't bother blocking them, only seemed to take the blows unexpectedly well, enraging Cranky even further.

"Don't – you – fucking – touch – him!" Cranky plowed his brick-like fists into his opponent's face between every spoken word. But the soldier just took it like it was nothing, as if he'd learned to take hits from others like that in the past. Kenny didn't want to know what kind of training this soldier went through, and he hoped he'd never have to go through it either.

Cranky dealt another blow after his last word, but it was promptly blocked. Before he could recover from his surprise at the soldier's speed and reaction time, which were impossibly fast, he ate an uppercut to the jaw, throwing him off the soldier, who kicked his body up from the ground.

Kenny ran to help his adoptive brother, but was surprised as Cranky jumped back up his feet without missing beat or slowing the pace of the fight. He'd never seen Cranky like this before. He dealt with this brawl with precision, speed and fighting experience Kenny had never expected to see from him. "A…are you oka-" he began to ask, but was cut off when Cranky's hand shot through the air with the speed and ferocity of a viper and seized Kenny violently by the collar of his shirt, and threw the teen behind him with such force that Kenny nearly lost his balance. He was stunned with such power, such speed that Cranky had obviously possessed, but Kenny had never seen it displayed in his life!

"Get away from here!" Cranky ordered without taking his eyes off his target. "I've got this fucker right where I want him!"

"But I can …"

"Damn it, Kenny, do as I say! This isn't the time to be arguing with me!"

He wanted to ask Cranky where he'd learned to fight like that, why he never displayed such raw power and form, but the teen knew better than to question Cranky, especially when he got riled up and to top it all off, now he was some kind of … some kind of Street Fighter! So he backed away slowly without taking his eyes off his brother, or the crazy soldier who threatened to kill them both.

He instead opted to take Wagner's unconscious body to safety. Kenny bent to the ground and slipped his hands under him, taking one of Wagner's arms and throwing it over his own shoulder. But the young airman was deadweight; over two hundred pounds of it and much too heavy for Kenny. So heavy, in fact, that his limp body had Kenny pinned to the floor as well. The teen thought about his situation and felt deep embarrassment. He knew that if he were in someone else's shoes, he'd be laughing himself and his stupidity. So he did the only other thing he knew how to do, the same thing that saved Guile's life from the wreckage of the car.

Kenny wrapped his hands under Wagner's armpits and dragged the unconscious airman away from the fight. If either Cranky or the mysterious soldier were to step or fall on Wagner, there would be broken bones, no doubt about it, especially given the intensity of the fight. Kenny's thoughts drifted momentarily onto the soldier. Who was this mysterious individual? He must've played an important role in Shadowlaw for him to reappear so suddenly, and just outside Cammy's ward to boot. Did he accompany that woman who Cammy was dealing with right now? That was the most likely scenario.

The man said his father went by the name of Dr. Tai Su Feng, and proclaimed him to be one of Shadowlaw's finest scientists. Was it the same brilliant scientist that created the Shadow Technology, the same scientist who implanted the technology into his son, Kenny when he was just six years old? That couldn't be right. Kenny was an only child as far as he knew. There had to be more than one Dr. Feng. That was the only conclusion he could reach.

**XXXXX**

The next thing Kenny felt was a ring of cold metal pressed to the back of his skull. He was getting real sick of this real fast. He turned around to face a pair of soldiers who were no doubt with the one Cranky was fighting right now. A quick scan of the pair revealed that they were much smaller in build, and didn't dwarf Kenny quite as much as their officer did. He calculated that it was possible for him to take on both of them at once. He was most likely not going to actually hit them, but force them to somehow take each other out. But how that was going to happen, he had no idea. He was just going to wing it. Wagner couldn't afford anymore damage, especially when he was unconscious and vulnerable lying on the floor like that. Kenny's first priority was to lead the soldiers as far away from Wagner as he could.

He rolled under the firearm, much to the surprise of the soldiers. While he was tucking his chin into his chest, Kenny caught sight of a handgun in the closest soldier's hip holster. The sight brought him back to the survival horror that was Raccoon City and the Rockfort Training Facility where he spent three months training to become an Umbrella operative before barely escaping with his life. The survival instinct kicked in. His arm shot out with blinding speed and snatched the handgun. It wasn't much against the likes of the rifles they were carrying in their gloved hands, but it was better than being unarmed. He gripped tightly onto the cold metal of the handgun, warming it quickly with the heat from his palms.

A trail of bullet holes in the ground followed, chasing after him while he moved. Kenny unfolded his body from the drop-and-roll and jumped behind a wall, where the passageway led to a junction. Kenny gripped the gun, the heavy metal feeling familiar in his hands and suddenly he knew how to use it. It felt like the gun was pouring all its knowledge gained from its experience in its use into his hands and the next thing Kenny knew, his body took on a life of its own and a firefight ensued.

He leapt from behind the one wall, holding his body parallel to the ground, to the safety of the other, firing the gun the whole way. His first shot bent the nozzle of one soldier's rifle, rendering the weapon useless. The second hit the grip of the weapon, knocking it from its user's hands. The third one tore into the soldier's arm, forcing him to clutch it in pain as blood ran in little warm streams down his arm and over his dark uniform, turning it into a pure black where it contacted the material.

The other soldier spun towards Kenny, firing his gun, screaming madly the whole way. But Kenny was already on top of him, flying through the air above the flying rounds, planting both heels into the helmet of the unfortunate soldier. The force cracked the helmet and threw the soldier to the ground, rendering him unconscious. Kenny wasn't able to regain his balance before he hit the ground, and landed with a painful smack on the tile.

**XXXXX**

"Bitch!" Katarina spat bitterly when Cammy had reached for her hair, and pulled out a few strands. Cammy grimaced at the silky strands in her hands, or at least, more so at the bits of scalp attached to their roots. Katarina jumped at her with outstretched hands, bent into savage claws like a cat. Cammy tried outmaneuvering her foe, and succeeded, escaping with a scratch on her cheek, like Kenny had earlier. Speaking of Kenny, what was taking him so long to get Wagner in the room?

"You … fucking … scratched me!" Cammy cried in dismay, running her hand across her jaw to find a thin layer of blood on the back of her hand.

"Just adding to what my love, Vega, has already started," Katarina hissed. "I worked on you, and Vega _worked_ you in more ways than one. Don't you ever forget – you are our canvas."

"I don't belong to anyone!" Cammy screamed angrily, the years of torture she went through at the hands of Shadowlaw finally coming out as steam from her ears, instead of tears from her eyes. She moved with blinding speed and socked Katarina across the face, the force snapping her head sideways, throwing her off balance and onto the floor. Cammy was going to make sure she wasn't getting up, jumping her as soon as her flesh hit the tile and began choking the woman, simultaneously slamming her head back viciously on the ground. "This is what you get for fucking with me and my family, whore!"

**BANG!**

The sudden gunshot outside the ward caught both of their attentions, momentarily stunning the two women. The first thought to enter Cammy's mind was Wagner and Kenny, praying that it was one of them behind the trigger of the gun, not on the receiving end. But dread filled her mind when she realized neither of them would've carried a firearm – except maybe Wagner could have. Oh please, God …

Cammy toppled over and it was her turn now to eat the floor, with Katarina now on top. The women wrestled to control one another, rolling over each other, screaming obscenities the whole way. Despite her superior training, Cammy was weak, recovering from a bout that she just won by her opponent forfeiting the match. Otherwise, she knew she would've lost, having been helped off the mat by a herd of striped-uniformed aids. Deciding that she was too weak to overpower Katarina, strong enough only to keep her at bay she realized the only way she'd be making it out of this one was to defeat her with words.

"Do you really think Vega loved you!" Cammy cried out suddenly.

"What a ridiculous question," Katarina said, continuing her expert kicks. They had since gotten back up to their feet and were now going through another series of fist fights. Cammy blocked each one systematically and continued her verbal onslaught.

"He only wanted you!" Cammy continued.

"And I'm sure you'd be the best judge of that, huh?" A punch at her ribs this time, one that Cammy dodged.

"And you think you're the only woman he's ever penetrated?"

Katarina scoffed, letting up her attacks for only a moment. "Well of course he's had his share of women before I came along. But that's over and done with now. He's pledged his love to me. And it had only been a matter of days after that when you stabbed him in the heart with his own claw!" The recollection fueled another series of punches and kicks. Again, Cammy parried them but she was beginning to wonder just how long she could hold out. She forced herself to keep it cool, to continue trying to break Katarina down by revealing the facts to her. She just realized how deluded the woman was by believing that Vega was the monogamous type and couldn't wait to shatter that image of him in her mind.

"For the love of Vega's life like you claim you are," Cammy said, "you sure don't know a hell of a lot about him."

"You don't know the first thing about …"

"He loves things he considers beautiful! How arrogant are you to think that you are the only woman he deems so? Has he ever told you about his sadistic, sexual endeavors?"

"You're full of it!"

"Do you have _any_ idea how I got this scar?" Cammy pointed to her cheek. Katarina remained silent, and her ignorance was irritating. "He fucked me, Katarina." Her gentle features grew with the shock of those words.

"N…no," she said in denial, but the word came out in a weak stammer. Katarina took a step forward to continue her attacks on Cammy, but her body wasn't co-operating, her limbs weighed down by the stab of betrayal in her mind. She looked sadly at the ground, averting her dark eyes from Cammy's crystal gaze, and for a moment, Cammy felt a deep sympathy for her.

She nodded, and continued talking. "It's true. I see the way you fight for him – and it pains me that you've put so much heart and devotion into a false relationship."

"It wasn't false," Katarina insisted, but what little strength she spoke with was vanishing from her voice with every passing word.

"In a true relationship, the feelings are shared equally between the two people involved." Cammy almost let out a laugh, noticing that of all people, she was the one preaching about the ideal relationship when her and Cranky had screwed around with each other for so long. Well, she was right in a way. Whatever shit she put him through, he had put her through as well. Their feelings were shared. But then Cammy remembered Juli, how the woman was so willing to let go of Cranky simply because the feelings she had for Cranky were the same feelings he had for Cammy. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for thinking of a suitable candidate example to validate her words to Katarina.

"What we had was real!" Katarina screeched, lunging for Cammy with renewed strength, driven by her denial. Losing her cool had cost her the victory she nearly assured herself. Cammy was now confident that her foe wasn't in the mental position to win the fight and easily took her down, hooking her leg around Katarina's neck, letting her weight pull them both to the floor. Cammy kept her hold on Katarina until the other woman stopped her violent thrashing and screams.

When things had calmed down a few seconds later, the only movement in the air from Katarina's labored breathing, Cammy released her, and let the beautiful scientist gain some space between them. There was no use in restarting the fight. Any adrenaline that had onced pulsed through Katarina's veins was gone. Now it was her mind that remained, untainted by a feral rage.

"We need to talk," Cammy said, unsure of what was motivating her to be so nice to the woman who just tried to kill her. Perhaps Cammy felt sorry for this woman, who clearly displayed the devotion she had for Vega, a devotion that he did not deserve from anyone. Perhaps she thought it was awful that Katarina had unknowingly poured her heart into this man, and he most likely wasn't giving her any of his, only taking her at face value. She was pretty, after all.

**XXXXX**

Cranky had the soldier, who he now remembered as Issei, trapped against the wall, crushing his throat with his forearm. It took a lot of effort out of Cranky, who pushed all the strength he could muster into his arm, trying to crush the soldier's windpipe. At the angle that Issei had his head turned, it required Cranky to crush a thick, hard slab of muscle in his neck, which proved difficult. The gunshots surprised Cranky, who made the mistake of looking to see who had fired them. None of the bullets had hit him or Issei. Whoever was doing the shooting was firing at Issei's companions, who had only now come out of hiding and Cranky had noticed them for the first time. And the mysterious sniper had some good aim.

Cranky realized his mistake of allowing more gunshots to distract him and turned back to face Issei. But he was only in time to see Issei's forehead slam into his face, connecting with the bridge of his nose. A sharp, intense pain stung his face and Cranky had no choice but to back off and hold his nose in pain. Issei didn't let up from his attacks and continued, delivered expert, powerful martial arts kicks that slammed into Cranky's midsection, back and chest while he was in pain. Issei moved with fluidity that nobody with that kind of bulk should be able to possess.

The kicks stunned Cranky, but he was not yet out of the game. Issei launched a punch for his temple and Cranky proved his own speed, dodging the potentially devastating hit, seizing Issei's fist with an open palm. He threw his own punch with his free hand, but Issei grabbed it and the two were locked in a colossal struggle, each of them trying to overpower the other in a high-stakes mercy fight. They grappled with each other, heels digging into the ground, fierce breaths from their nostrils but it seemed as if both were evenly matched.

"Who the hell are you?" Cranky asked as they locked their fiery gazes.

"The last face you'll see on earth!" Issei hissed confidently.

"You're the son of Dr. Tai Su Feng?" Cranky reiterated his question.

"The one and only!" With a surprising burst of strength, Issei pushed Cranky backwards a step. Cranky lost his footing and fell on his side while his opponent jumped on top of him and struggled to hold him down. The both of them rolled around on the floor, still, neither one gaining full advantage over the other.

"That's not possible!" Cranky continued.

"And what makes you say that, foreigner?"

"Because Dr. Tai Su Feng and his wife, Shao Mei took care of me when I was a child, and not once have I ever heard of you!"

"LIES!" Issei aimed for Cranky's forehead and brought his fist down, but Cranky cocked his head to one side and Issei's fist met the tiled floor, shattering it on impact.

"Who in the world do you think you are, denying MY past?" Issei screamed. "My parents are dead, murdered nine years ago by that youth you protect!"

"Are you crazy?" Cranky nearly screamed with disbelief. "Kenny would never do something like that. Secondly, he's in his mid-teens. Nine years ago, he was six years old! Are you suggesting your father, the great Tai Su Feng of Shadowlaw couldn't defend himself against a mere child?"

The comment stunned Issei and his grip on Cranky weakened as he backed off a little. "Bison said your friend was responsible for Dr. Feng's death …"

"Bison himself is responsible for killing Dr. Feng and orphaning Kenny!" Cranky cried.

"_Kenny_ stole the Shadow Technology!"

"Dr. Feng was the one who implanted in him! You have no idea how much Kenny has suffered as a result of the Shadow Technology…"

"Stop with your lies!"

"They're not lies! I took care of Kenny when he was a child and I was there to see what he went through!"

Issei stared defiantly into Cranky's green eyes, breathing heavily with raw emotion and physical strain from the battle. Their eye contact was intense, it seemed like an eternity though it lasted a little more than a second, with neither man making another move – one of them worrying what the other would do next, the other considering the information about his past that had just been revealed. Issei was the first to break eye contact.

"I need to stop this," he said, finally, unclenching the muscles in his body. "I can't continue fighting if I don't know what I'm fighting for."

Cranky didn't know if this was some kind of a trick to take his guard down, so he kept his body lose, kept his mind sharp, never taking his focus off Issei. "What do you fight for?" he asked.

"I fight for Katarina and I."

"Why do you fight us?"

"Bison's orders. We owe much to Shadowlaw."

"And it doesn't matter how many people you kill in the process?" Cranky asked, bewildered. "You are helping a madman take more than he deserves. You are helping him kill people and ruining the lives of countless more. Does that not mean anything to you?"

"If it wasn't for Bison, Katarina and I could be one of those countless people with ruined lives."

"And by fighting alongside Shadowlaw, you are doing nothing to make sure whatever you two suffered doesn't happen to anyone else. You are contributing to such suffering! The love of my life, my little brother … those are two of the closest people to me whose lives have literally been torn apart by Shadowlaw."

Cranky knew he was opening up to Issei, beginning to discuss personal matters that he would otherwise never discuss with anyone else. But Issei and Katarina were Kenny's siblings, not an adoptive one like Cranky was. They were his biological brother and sister! Cranky had to get the twins on their side before they ended up doing something they regretted. And better yet, it was crucial to have two of Shadowlaw's best on their side if they hoped to bring down the criminal organization. He was willing to lower his emotional barriers if that's what it took. He was willing to open up to Issei, to get him to understand the kind of suffering he went through so that he would at least consider turning his back on Shadowlaw. It was a risk, but well worth it, so Cranky continued.

"Cammy, her father was murdered by your people when she was just a teenager and had to go into foster care. And even then, Shadowlaw wouldn't let up and she continues fighting them to this day. And Kenny, his family was torn apart, his parents killed when he was six years old, left with nobody else but me to take care of him. When it comes to potential victims, Shadowlaw does not discriminate. Young, old, male, female, no matter where you're from, the color of your skin, they don't care. Everyone falls victim to them in the end. You can't let them continue doing this."

"And why should I care about others? Why should I care about a world who forced my parents to abandon me and my sister when we were kids? What about _our_ justice?"

Issei had to understand what exactly happened to his parents in the past. And Cranky had information about Tai and Mei that would help put the soldier's mind at ease. The trick was getting him to listen. Cranky gulped, realizing just how much he and Issei had to discuss – Tai and Mei, how they helped take Cranky off the streets and sheltered him in their home, how he and Kenny had formed an instant bond as young children, and the demise of the Feng family.

"I have some information for you," Cranky finally said, "if you're willing to listen."

"And what could you possibly tell me about my own parents, foreigner?" Issei asked.

"More than you think." Cranky's words were true, and so desperate was he to get Issei to want to listen, he poured his heart into those few words. If Cranky could just get a shred of his attention, the road to victory would be pretty much set. Convincing Katarina wouldn't be much of an obstacle and Shadowlaw could finally be brought down – hopefully.

"I know the eyes of a liar," Issei said.

Cranky nodded, his heart dropping into his stomach. "As every good soldier should." It was foolish of Cranky to make anyone believe he told the truth. He'd been a street thief his whole youth, a liar, a bum, conning everyone except old ladies out of money, jewelry and goods and he was good at it. If there was one thing he deserved more than anyone else alive, he deserved to be doubted.

"And I don't see them in you."


	28. Chapter 23: Family History

Kenny stood before Cranky as he'd never seen his teenage brother before. He was breathing heavily, his shirt torn apart at the left shoulder. Beneath a rip in the fabric, Cranky could see a raw open wound, bleeding profusely. Kenny's face was pale, likely from the blood loss, and his face was coated with a sheen of sweat. In his left hand, he held a firearm tightly with a white-knuckled grip, the black metal trembling slightly along with Kenny's own body.

"Put the gun down, Kenny," he said softly, trying to calm the teen down. Those gunshots he'd heard during his fight with Issei, had they all been delivered by Kenny? He caught a quick glimpse of the soldiers who had accompanied Issei, and one lay wounded, the other unconscious on the floor. Where had he learned to use a gun like that, without even landing a bullet on Cranky or Issei?

Kenny then raised the gun, pointing it at Issei. "H…he tried to kill me," Kenny claimed, his hand still trembling with fear and shock. "It's only fair." He got ready to squeeze the trigger. But Issei only looked down defiantly at him, somehow knowing full well that Kenny would never find the nerve to pull the trigger.

"He's with us," Cranky said, approaching him with slow, cautious steps. "Don't pull that trigger. If you do, you'll regret it."

"How!" Kenny shouted suddenly. "How can you stand there and defend the guy who just tried to kill you? I don't trust him any further than I can throw him."

"That requires some time to explain," Cranky continued, "and we don't have time for that right now. You're just going to have to trust me. Now Kenny …" He held out his hand and looked the youth straight in the eye. "Give me the gun." His mouth was set in a stern line across his face. Cranky was not joking around. "Give it to me," he repeated.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Kenny hung his head and rested the firearm in Cranky's open palm. As soon as he let go, Kenny fell to his knees, and collapsed against the wall. The blood was still running down his arm in a crooked pattern, flowing smoothly in multiple arms. But Kenny was oblivious to this, staring blankly into space while fresh tears flowed out of his eyes as freely as the blood did from his arm. The adrenaline from the fight was slowing and reality was beginning to hit. He had almost been killed. He had guns pointed at him before, but none of them had actually fired. If his foot had connected with the shaft a split second too late … Having a brush that close with death had a major impact on him. He just let his head hang and let himself get over the shock.

Cranky joined Kenny at his side and threw an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer.

"Hey, what's with this all of a sudden, huh?" he asked, trying to cheer him up.

"I'm damned stressed," he said through sobs. "I've been kidnapped, operated on, forced to jump off a cliff, got into a scrap with another kid, nearly died in a car crash all in a span of two days. And that six month hell that was Raccoon City – I don't wanna start. Now – now, I've just been shot at!"

"Yeah, but look at what you've become because of it," Cranky said. "Look at how much you've survived. Back in the days we spent on the street, we thought we were the shit. Now you can live through much more than that. We can survive fucking Shadowlaw, and we've proven it!"

"I know, but … but do you honestly think it's worth it? Are we ever gonna be out of danger?"

"I don't know and honestly, I don't think it matters either. On the street, we've been through scraps with other kids for food, for money, you name it and we beat 'em. You survived in society by living on your own for nine years, paid rent, went to school and worked in a police station. We tackled survival horror fighting in a damn viral infested city against fucking freaks and shit crawling around at every corner. Hell, you even learned to shoot a revolver like some kind of cowboy. All you have to do is learn how to spin it around your finger like one." Cranky tried twirling the gun Kenny had just given him around his index finger, but it had clattered uselessly to the floor at his lack of skill. "I'm proud of you, you little shit. And after being looking out for your ass for so long, after everything I've taught you, I'll be damned if it takes only one bullet to bring you down."

Kenny lifted his head slightly to look at Cranky while speaking. "About Cammy's secret …"

"It's not important," Cranky said, dismissing it before he could finish. "When Issei pulled the trigger on you, before I realized you'd threw off his aim, my heart fuckin' stopped. I thought you were gone, even if it was for that split second. Then I realized the petty secrets didn't matter anymore. None of it did." He was interrupted by the presence of two newcomers, joining Issei at his side. Cranky's heart leapt into his throat when he saw Cammy emerge from the recovery suite, shouldering a gorgeous Chinese woman dressed in a white lab coat. Her jet black hair was formerly tied into a bun and loose wisps now formed a grotesque, unkempt halo around her head. But through it all, he could still see that her face, her perfectly smooth skin, small nose and rounded lips made her beautiful. Cammy looked at Cranky and smiled, her eyes glazing over with tears. She released the woman and stepped towards Cranky, kneeling in front of him, sitting beside Kenny with his arm around his shoulders, the both of them sitting like a pair of children in the middle of the hallway, on the floor.

"Cranky, I …" but she couldn't figure out what to say. But the way the corners of his mouth curved upward into a reassuring, cocky smile, she knew it was going to be okay between them.

Cranky said nothing and raised his other arm, inviting Cammy to join him at his side. She crawled into the cozy space between his arm and the side of his body, just big enough for her shoulders to fit and sat on Cranky's opposite side, resting her head on his chest. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and took in the sweet flowery scent of her hair. Gently pulling Kenny and Cammy close to him, Cranky realized they must've looked like a family; a multi-cultural, morally twisted, dramatically dysfunctional family. And he would have it no other way.

**XXXXX**

The room was painted a creamy white, not too bright that it hurt the eyes and soft enough to soothe those who happened to occupy it. And right now, Wolfman stood at the head of the room, with an expansive chalkboard behind him. Thank goodness for Delta Red's contacts in Osaka, Japan, where they were keeping a close tab on Shadowlaw's actions. Said contacts were able to provide them with everything they needed, such as this private meeting room in the home of the suburban Japanese home they'd first brought Kenny to after reclaiming him from Shadowlaw hands.

The headmistress of the house, who Wolfman knew only now as Mrs. Ito, was out in the garden sweeping the dried leaves. Chun Li had called him late last night sounding rather shocked, out of breath, and frazzled – a personality trait he knew not to exist in the Chinese Interpol officer. She claimed that there were many things to be discussed with the street fighters involved, and the organizations fighting together to bring down Shadowlaw. Whatever news she had sounded pretty important and had to be relayed to everyone at once. Hence, the emergency meeting this early in the morning.

He glanced at his wristwatch – 11:17 am. The Chun Li wanted the meeting as soon as possible and she hadn't even showed up yet, and it was supposed to start soon. In fact, hell, where was everyone? He'd specifically phone Guile, Ryu and Ken, telling them to haul their asses over there by 11:30 in the morning, though the earlier they'd be there, the earlier the meeting could commence.

As if to shut his mind up, the door to the room suddenly burst open, Chun Li walking through with Guile following just behind her.

"I swear if they aren't here in five minutes," Guile muttered angrily between pressed lips.

"They'll come," Chun Li insisted. Wolfman's inquisitive glance must've explained his confusion as she turned to face him and elaborated. "It's Cammy and Wagner."

"Those two haven't changed since they were rebellious little terrors," he fumed. "Who stays in bed till twelve in the afternoon, anyway?"

"But it's not twelve yet …" Chun Li insisted.

"The point is they wanted too!" Guile ranted. "And Wagner was the one who told me – oh, the nerve!"

"But we didn't," Cammy said, interrupting the conversation as she entered the room. Wagner and Cranky tagged along a few steps behind, the former rubbing his hand sleepily across his eyes. This was the first time anyone had seen Cammy and Cranky unlinked at the hands since his return to her, and that sight was so uncommon that it had raised suspicions in those close to them, particularly Wagner, though he'd remained quiet, wanting to avoid stirring up anymore trouble.

"This had better be worth it," he mumbled. "The doctors insist after the ordeal I went through with Shadowlaw's brainwashing and everything, the best thing for me to do right now is to rest. And I intend to follow that advice to the best of my ability."

"You've been sleeping for the last twelve hours!" Guile continued.

"I'll have you know being brainwashed is quite taxing on one's psyche and body."

"Guile," Chun Li scolded, "you should know better than to drag Wagner out here against his will, especially since you know what he's been through."

"I'm with her," Wagner said, jabbing his thumb in her direction.

"Where's Kenny?" Wolfman asked Cranky. He opened his mouth to respond when Wagner replied bitterly for him.

"Sleeping!"

"I didn't want him to get involved any further," Cranky explained, "especially now that he's out of Shadowlaw's hands."

"He'll be alright by himself?" Cammy asked.

"Well he's been living alone for the past nine years," Cranky said, "I'm sure he'll be fine. I made him some breakfast and left it on the table when he gets hungry so that way he doesn't have to leave the apartment for any reason."

Cammy licked her lips at the thought of one of Cranky's breakfasts. She was introduced to them shortly after they met. The bacon was cooked to a perfect crisp and never burnt, the sunny side up eggs with raw yolk and fully cooked white, orange juice freshly squeezed with his own hands, and buttered toast on white bread, browned just right. She was a little envious of Kenny right now, having the opportunity to sleep in and wake up to a gourmet breakfast that Cranky cooked. It would've probably been a little cold by the time he woke up, but it didn't matter. It tasted that good.

"Wolfman," Chun Li said, grabbing the man lightly by the arm, "if it's alright with you, I'd like to have a word with you outside."

He looked inquisitively at her and nodded.

"Cranky," she continued, "if you'd come with me as well."

"Sure thing," he said, fully expecting her to ask. When she had spoken to him earlier this morning, he had already been up. Cammy was still asleep during their short conversation when Chun Li had called for the meeting and he assumed she'd called him shortly before or after contacting Wolfman.

The three of them left Guile, Cammy and Wagner back in the room continuing their little family bicker while Chun Li addressed Cranky and Wolfman with more strenuous matters. She closed the door quietly behind her and spoke with a hushed voice.

"There's something Wolfman and I have to tell you," she explained. "You're the closest to Cammy right now, and knowing her fragile psyche, I think it's of the utmost importance that you know."

Cranky made a confused face. She was right – Cammy was a little crazy but then again, weren't they all? Given her past with Shadowlaw, Chun Li's secrecy could have only meant one thing. They'd discovered something about Shadowlaw Cammy and her family wouldn't like.

"Well I'm listening," he said impatiently.

"Before we tell you anything," Wolfman said, "you have to promise to keep this from Cammy at all costs."

"You're asking a lot out of me, colonel."

"There's no other choice."

"Then I'm not so sure I want to know." Cranky had just found out from Cammy that she'd been keeping a secret from him. The wounds were still fresh in his mind. He wasn't sure if now was the right time to turn around and to the same thing back to her, a completely hypocritical act. Their entire relationship was a big hypocritical joke, but regardless, the love they for each other wasn't. And if this relationship was going to function, secrets could not be kept.

"It's for her safety," Chun Li insisted, "that you know and she doesn't, so you can protect such knowledge of hurting her again."

"Look, we know Shadowlaw is still up and running, and Cammy's aware of that too. So what news can you bring that'll effect her negatively?"

"Vega's alive," Chun Li said.

"Vega?" Cranky asked. Was it that same maniac he'd read about in Cammy's file, the one that screwed her and her family over more than once? He was the man responsible for tormenting the poor girl and … many a night, Cranky had been awoken from his slumber with Cammy mumbling Vega's name angrily in her sleep. The monster was dead and he still tormented her dreams and … wait – "He's alive?" Cranky nearly shrieked.

"You know just as well as I do how Cammy feels about him," Wolfman said. "Don't say anything to her. Lord knows what she'll do." His words sounded like a threat, but they were factual truth. Cammy had struggled for so long to get her life and her emotional state back on track. She wasn't back to being perfect, at least from what she told him, but she didn't expect to ever be the same again either. The best Cranky could do was stand by her side and comfort her, be her support while she overcame her own struggles. And this news would hinder that.

"Do you understand now why we're so adamant about keeping this news from her?" Chun Li asked.

"Yes," he replied. "But how did you find out? This is pretty big, this is like … the worst case scenario. Are you sure Vega's alive? Did you get confirmation?"

"I saw him, Cranky, standing right in front of me. Ken was there too."

"Masters?" he asked, surprised. "I can't believe you guys didn't kick his ass."

"It would've gotten us disqualified from the tournament," she explained. "Vega's on Bison's bodyguard panel. We have to get through him to fight Bison. And engaging him outside of the tournament boundaries is the equivalent of disorderly conduct according to Osaka City laws, which will get us kicked out of the tournament since they, too, are bound by the city laws. And if we were to be disqualified from the tournament …" Chun Li's hands balled into tight fists.

"I understand," Cranky said. "Cammy won't hear a word of this." Even as he spoke, he had difficulty convincing himself he could carry his promise through.

Noticing this, Wolfman put a comforting hand on his shoulder, saying, "It's for her own good."

"I … I know."

**XXXXX**

"Sorry we're late," Ken said, opening the door to the room just as the meeting was about to commence. He looked around, spotting Cammy, Wagner, Cranky and Guile seated near the front of the room while Wolfman and Chun Li stood at the front. It was clear that Chun Li had been in mid sentence before she was interrupted by his arrival. "We brought Ryu," Ken offered, hoping to curb the angry glare she shot at him. "Julian's here too."

The two men followed Ken into the room, Ken making sure he found a spot beside Cammy. Cranky, who sat on her opposite side shot Ken a dirty frown and redirected his attention back to Chun Li. Ryu modestly bowed his head at them before taking his seat while Julian swaggered in nonchalantly and planted himself beside Guile.

"As I was saying," Chun Li continued, with a hint of bitterness still lingering in her tone, "thanks to Cranky's and Cammy's efforts, we have been able to gain the trust of two key Shadowlaw operatives. They will no doubt be an invaluable asset to our cause. I will go and retrieve them. Meanwhile, Wolfman will continue the briefing." Chun Li spun on her heels and walked out of the room at a quick pace, not bothering to close the door quietly behind her as she left.

"Their names are Katarina and Aaron Feng," he explained. "The former is a top Shadowlaw scientist whose impressive resume includes working as a director on the Doll Program, and further enhancement on the Shadow Technology before the program was scrapped. She led a third project, one that involved combining the technologies of the previous two with the intention of creating an elite force of brainwashed Street Fighters. These new breed of brainwashed soldiers are designed to have the enhanced capabilities that the Shadow Technology offered, with the obedience of the Dolls. Units can operate alone, or work together in a group and are effective in either scenario. Wagner and Julian were the first prototypes of this new program called the Agent Initiative. Fortunately, they were freed from the brainwashing by a rather … interesting individual."

"She called herself Rose," Wagner said, piping up.

"And she could very well hold the key to bringing down Bison's Psycho Power," Julian added. "She was able to get Wagner and I to snap out of it. Rose cured us when the best doctors in town could not."

"That she could," Wolfman agreed, "but further pursuing her would be a waste of our resources. We've tried already and it seems as if the woman has vanished without a trace."

"We still have to try!" Cammy insisted, pounding a fist onto her desk top. "If she's capable of freeing Shadowlaw's slaves, then we have to at least try!"

"We've tried, Cammy!" Wolfman retorted. "She's gone."

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you say that," she insisted. "How many people have suffered and died at Shadowlaw's hands? How many people are working for them, even, and are suffering? Katarina and Issei …"

"I know how you feel about Shadowlaw, having been personally involved in their deals," Wolfman explained calmly. "But you have to look at this objectively. We simply can't afford to track her down when we don't even know where to start looking. Our efforts would be better suited to finding a weakness in the organization and taking full advantage of it."

"But we can't just …"

"Calm yourself, soldier!" Wolfman snapped. Cammy clamped her mouth shut angrily not unlike a child and glared angrily at him, but was promptly ignored.

Before the conflict could resume, Chun Li entered the room with the twins, freshly recruited from Shadowlaw. Ken, Ryu and Guile looked at them with curiosity, not having seen either of their faces before. For twins, they looked nothing alike. They were probably fraternal. The boy – or man, would've been a more suiting word – looked like an older version of someone familiar who escaped Ken at the moment. Only he was taller and far more muscular. His body looked like it was made of bricks and he probably had the strength to snap Ken in half. In contrast, his sister was fair and frail looking, though if she was a Shadowlaw agent, he was sure her looks betrayed her capabilities. The siblings shared jet black hair, narrowed eyes typical of people from the Orient, and high, developed cheekbones.

"I introduce Katarina, and Aaron Feng," she said, motioning to each of the twins separately.

"Feng?" Ken asked, his eyes widening. That's why the man looked so familiar.

"Yes," Chun Li said, "if you haven't already assumed, they are Dr. Feng's first born children – Kenny's brother and sister."

Cammy felt Cranky take her hand into his and she gave a reassuring squeeze. She vaguely understood how he felt. Kenny had been a responsibility of his for a long time. And Cranky had protected Kenny when they were younger, looked out for the youth, fed him and clothed him with the money he stole, money that would otherwise be used on himself. Cranky had sacrificed so much for Kenny and cared dearly about the teen that he'd become his big brother. After Kenny's supposed death, Cranky found escape from his guilt through booze and on night stands until Cammy came along. She did more for him than give him someone else to care about – she brought Kenny back to him. And now, as the adoptive brothers were rekindling the friendship, the closeness they had as children, in walk these strangers who were robbing the title from Cranky.

He squeezed her hand back while she rubbed her thumb soothingly over the back of his palm. She could see the hurt in his eyes as he struggled to swallow the truth – literally. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, his lips were pressed into a thin line and his head nodded very subtly.

"What?" Guile gasped. "I thought Kenny was Dr. Feng's first born." Ken's expression was reflected in Guile words as he stared speechless at the two strangers who stood before them. Even the normally calm, collected, stoic Ryu seemed to be taken aback by the news.

"So we thought," Chun Li said. "But after running extensive background checks on Dr. Feng, here's what we found out."

"Dr. Tai Su Feng and his wife, Shao Mei moved to Osaka from Beijing shortly when Shadowlaw first offered him a position with the company," Wolfman continued. "At the time, Kenny was fresh from the womb, and Katarina and Aaron were living with them in secret in Beijing with regular visits."

"Why were they kept a secret?" Ken asked.

"Due to China's one child policy," Chun Li replied simply. "It was no fault of Mei's that she gave birth to twins. But twins or not, they are still more than one child. One of them had to be given up. But she couldn't bring herself to separate the children from each other, so she kept them together, giving them up to childless relatives."

"Now fast forward ten years," Wolfman said, taking over. "Kenny is born from what we gather a sheer accident and Shadowlaw offers Dr. Feng a job. It seems that he was working on a controversial technology that his previous scientific firm had frowned upon. He was excited to take the job and through Shadowlaw, further developed his work into what we now know as the Shadow Technology. Taking the twins with them would've revealed their secret, the fact that they had three children. So the Fengs moved to Osaka with Kenny, claiming his as their first born, and only son so as to avoid any suspicions with the Chinese government."

"Meanwhile," Katarina continued, opening her mouth for the first time in that room, "Shadowlaw approached us while our parents were living in Japan, and recruited us into their ranks without our father's knowledge. We were always told who he was, and shown photos and footage of him, but we were never allowed to meet him in person. Neither of us know why to this day. As the children of one of Shadowlaw's greatest scientists, we had big shoes to fill."

"They promised that if we worked hard enough," Aaron elaborated, "we would one day be able to meet our father face to face. So we worked, we excelled in our respective fields. After our father was killed, Katarina rose quickly in the scientific ranks to replace him. I, on the other hand, trained with Shadowlaw's military. As soldiers, we had to shed our previous identities and surrender them to Shadowlaw. We were given codenames instead. My codename is all I've known since – Issei."

"So you were special enough for a codename but your sister wasn't?" Ken asked, pointing at Katarina.

"They called me the Yellow Hornet," Katarina said, shrugging, "but I never really warmed up to it. Kinda like how they nicknamed Cammy the Killer Bee. She seemed to like it enough." Katarina smirked.

"That's probably because they downloaded the commands for me to like it into my head," Cammy mumbled.

"Besides," Katarina continued, "codenames are usually reserved for the soldiers."

"Wow, this is turning out to be one fucked up family reunion," Julian commented from a little further back. "And the little rascal isn't even here to see it all happen. We've got one Shadowlaw victim, one soldier, one scientist, and all three are fathered by a passionate scientist who happened to run with the wrong company." Julian shook his head. How could one seemingly innocent decision on the part of Dr. Feng be the cause of so much pain and suffering? The results of that decision completely shattered his family. Julian was no stranger to dysfunctional families. He grew up with a Latin mafia leader as a father, and took his first life at sixteen years old. His relationship with Francisco Marquez, his father, grew to be a rough, and trying experience. Julian blamed his father for a lot of the shit he'd been put through in his life and decided that as a result, Julian felt that he couldn't be a good enough father for his son, Dorian. But now he wasn't so sure. He felt a lump grow in his throat. He had his own son to worry about, a son who didn't even know Julian existed. Could his decision to stay out of Dorian's life turn out this fucked up as well?

"There's more," Wolfman continued, "if you think you've heard it all. Cranky, can you please tell everyone where you fit into all this?"

Cranky reluctantly rose from his seat and walked towards the front of the room, his hands growing clammier with every step. He hated talking in front of people, after spending the better part of his life running from them. And to make it worse, he had information that many in the room would find to be a little surprising.

**XXXXX**

Kenny yawned tiredly as he waddled from the bedroom over to the dining table, scratching the small of his back as he moved. The wound in his arm had been bandaged yesterday and the tourniquets changed twice. Cammy sure knew how to take care of people. He tried to keep his injured arm still, and it had been a pain in the ass, especially when he was trying to sleep. The slightest strain it received would send it into painful fits, waking him from his peaceful slumber. Now it was morning and the limb was numb from all the torture it had gone through. Today was a new day and he'd rest and give the wound time to heal.

The hotel suite smelled of food. He felt his mouth begin to water.

"Cammy?" he called out. No answer. "Cranky? Are you guys here?" Still no answer. He shrugged and continued towards the table, his eyes half closed, his hair in a tangled mess, feet shuffling across the carpeted floor, determined to find the source of that delicious aroma.

On the table was a pair of plates, one covering the top of the other. There was a note scribbled on top. He picked it up and strained his sleepy eyes to make sense of the scribbles.

_Cammy_ _and I are at an important meeting this morning. **Don't** leave the hotel room. I've cooked some breakfast for you and I want to see it gone by the time I get back. That includes the bread crust. And don't forget to wash the dishes when you're done and don't open the door to strangers. This isn't your suite so don't forget to make your bed – and remember to take your meds. They're on the counter. We'll be back by late afternoon. And I swear if I find you pulled off a sneak-off stunt like you did back at the hospital, I'll wring your neck myself and throw you out the window. _

_Love, _

_Cranky_

"Sure thing, Dad," Kenny mumbled bitterly. He set the note down and lifted the cover of the plate, eyes bulging at the feast before him. Scrambled eggs, lightly peppered, slices of fresh oranges on the side, juicy slabs of ham, a few strips of bacon and greasy sausages, two hotcakes in a little plastic cup of syrup. Underneath the plate sat a second note. Curious, Kenny picked it up and read it.

_Kenny, there's a pack of smokes inside my combat boots by the front door. Just in case you get a craving, so you won't have to leave the house to get some. But don't tell Cranky, okay:)_

_Love, _

_Cammy_

_ps: Burn this after you've read it._

Kenny made a mad dash for the front of the suite, wondering what Cammy's combat boots looked like. It was a little gross to him that she had to keep the cigarettes there, but he supposed there'd be no other place for her to hide them, especially given how close she and Cranky were. He grabbed a pair of tall lace up boots, one in each hand and shook. The left one made a noise. Setting the right boot down, he turned over the left in his hand and shook it, and a pack of Japanese cigarettes fell into his open palm.

He grinned like a child on Christmas morning. "I knew I wanted you to be with Cranky for a reason, Cammy," he thought to himself. Kenny was about to head for the stove to take out the stovetop lighter when a knock on the door stopped him in his tracks. Sighing, he pocketed the cigarettes and retraced his steps, walking back to the door. He looked through the peephole and recognized the corny suits the bellboys usually wore, complete with hat and chin straps.

Kenny opened the door. "What?"

"Room service," the bellboy said politely. Only he wasn't exactly a boy. This guy was a little older than that, though the makeup he wore on his face made him look slightly younger. His voice bore traces of bass, indicating he was a man, though he spoke eloquently like a high class woman. From underneath his ugly chin strapped hat, silky strands flowed down his back. The open collar of the uniform revealed part of a purple tattoo – some kind of animal with scales, perhaps a snake or a dragon, it was hard to tell. If it wasn't for his voice, and maybe the broader build, Kenny could've sworn this was a bell girl, if such a thing existed.

And was that lip gloss?

"I don't need to be serviced, thanks," Kenny said.

"I've come to change the sheets," he insisted.

"But isn't that …" Kenny stopped wondering if it would offend the bellboy. Their jobs were usually to deal with luggage. Room service was left to the men in tuxedos and maids dealt with changing the sheets. So which one was he? Well, to be honest, Kenny didn't care. Cranky's note told him to make the bed, but this bellboy, maid, whatever was offering to do it for him.

"Sure," Kenny said, changing his mind, "come on in."


	29. Chapter 24: Hatching a Plan

As Cranky stood at the front of the room, explaining his past involvement with Kenny, his spectators could only stare and barely manage even a nod. Minds changed about Craig Crankurt, street thug and pick pocket extraordinaire somehow single-handedly raised Kenny from a child until he was six, when the third consecutive Alpha tournaments were held by the street fighter circuit. Cranky had taught him to adapt to the harsh realities of the streets, while at the same time never wanting him to be involved in the first place. What in the world could convince a hardened fifteen year old to look out for a mere child, when it was hard enough out there to look after yourself?

"It was Mei's doing," was his explanation. "Mrs. Feng, call her whatever you want. The woman was like a mother to me. The other street kids never had anyone to turn to. I kept her a secret from them. She was such a nice lady. She fed me, clothed me, and gave me a roof to sleep under. She saved my life."

"She took you off the streets?" Ryu asked. The news confused him. When Ryu had first run into Kenny and Cranky nine years ago, the both of them were already homeless children with no futures. Dr. Feng and his wife had only been killed a few weeks before, so rightfully, Kenny would have been in protective custody of the government, in an orphanage or something. And perhaps Cranky would've been with him. How was it that the two of them had managed to escape the government's grasp and end up with the other street kids?

"Mei never took me off the streets," Cranky explained, "although she offered to adopt me. But I didn't want to have to depend on her for everything after being on my own for so long. But I'd drop by for the occasional visit, a meal with the family, and she even gave me money for babysitting Kenny when he was a toddler."

On the other hand, for Cammy, it was starting to make sense. It was no wonder to her that Cranky seemed to have such a genuine, caring personality for her. It's because someone had taught him to have a heart, a personality trait she never expected someone to have especially if they'd live in poverty where only the strong survived. She rubbed her arms, remembering the way he held her with strong, capable, yet gentle hands. Cammy would well survive alone but it was nice to know there was someone who would fight to the death just to make sure she got out of any situation without so much as a scratch. And in turn, of course, she would do anything for Cranky.

"It's funny how it all turned out," Guile noted. "If you had accepted Mei's offer to adopt you, you would've forgotten the survival skills you had to teach Kenny after his parents were assassinated."

"Yes," Cranky noted sadly. "I wish things could've turned out differently. Mei wasn't the kind of person who deserved to die. She loved everything life had to offer, and taught me things that I would have never otherwise learned on my own. She taught me to appreciate everything for what it was, and be happy with both the good and the bad in my life. She taught me to hold my head high in the face of rampant discrimination, living as an Irish-American in Japan. I owe much to her. There are times when I wish she was still here …" He looked at everyone staring back at him and blushed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get all sappy there."

"No reason to feel embarrassed," Chun Li said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Most of us here know what it's like to lose a family member, a parent. Wagner, Cammy, Julian, and Ryu – who's never even had them, and me. We all understand."

"Is that why you took Kenny under your wing?" Ryu asked.

Cranky nodded. "I didn't want him to grow up without someone looking out for him, especially not after what Mei had to show me. I wasn't able to provide him with half the guidance Mei gave me, but …"

"You did a great job, anyway," Cammy said.

Katarina, who was now sitting in one of the many chairs scattered throughout the room, put up her hand in confusion and spoke up. "You all seem to be familiar with this Kenny character," she said, looking a little confused. "And according to you, he's our biological brother." Katarina motioned to herself and Issei, who was seat right beside her.

"We'd like to find out more about him," Issei said. "We'd like to meet him."

"You already have," Cranky noted bitterly. "You tried to shoot him."

The comment caused Issei to lower his gaze in shame while Cammy shot Cranky a frown. "I meant," Issei continued, "we … we want to meet him under different circumstances, knowing what we know now."

"We owe him an apology," Katarina admitted. "There is much we have to discuss with him; about our lives, our experiences, and most of all, our parents."

"There isn't anything to discuss with Kenny," Cranky snapped. "You never sacrificed anything …"

"Calm down," Cammy said, rising from her seat. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and led him towards the exit. She turned around to face the twins and gave a weak, apologetic smile. "Please don't be angry with him," she said. "Cranky's just … he's shocked."

"As I'm sure we all are," Katarina said, understanding completely.

**XXXXX**

"My goodness," Vega said, stuffing a fork full of scrambled egg into his mouth, "this food is better than the stuff they serve from the kitchen staff. How were you able to attain such delicacies?"

"Oh, my brother cooked it for me," Kenny replied casually. "I wasn't really that hungry anyway. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Look, Mister …"

"De La Cerna."

"Right. Not that I don't mind hanging out and all, but … don't you have a job to get back to? Won't your boss be … I dunno, mad?"

Vega's head snapped up. He'd almost forgotten. The bellboy was probably laying down bleeding from a head injury somewhere in the lower levels before he'd taken his uniform. Vega had allowed himself to be distracted from the mission – to find Cammy, and see her squirm at the sight of him standing right in front of her. And instead, after taking the trouble to track down her suite, he found this kid instead of his intended target. Instead of letting his frustration motivate him in his goals, he allowed his hungry stomach to succumb to the delicious aroma floating in the suite's atmosphere. But maybe, just _maybe_ he'd be able to get information out of the brat – the kind brat, sitting here before him.

"Oh, he'll be fine," Vega said, waving it off, hiding his folly. "So, what brings you to Osaka City?"

"Um …" Kenny shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment. "I lived here when I was younger, but then I moved to America and stayed there for about two years. I just got back a few weeks ago."

"I see," Vega said, nodding, "but how is it you're able to afford paying hotel rates?"

"Well I was able to buy a small apartment with the money I saved while studying and working in the States. I'm just visiting my brother and his girlfriend right now, and this is her suite."

"Ah." Vega couldn't help a sly smile creeping across his face. "And I suppose your apartment is too small for them to put up with you. I mean, being Japan and all …"

"She's participating in the street fighter tournaments."

Vega feigned surprise and admiration holding a well manicured hand to his chest. "Wow, are you serious? She's a real street fighter? That's fabulous. How lucky you are to be in such close relations with one of the best fighters in the world. Now, which one would she be?"

"Definitely not one of the better known ones like Chun Li," Kenny replied. "She's one of the four latecomers accepted into the tournament ranks."

"Well out for the four newcomers, Cammy's the only girl."

"And that'd be her," Kenny said, nodding proudly.

"I've seen her fight," Vega said. "And I must say, she's got beautiful form. I haven't known about her for very long, but she's quite a catch, isn't she? I'm sure your brother must be counting his lucky stars."

"Yeah," Kenny laughed, "just don't say that around him. Cranky's pretty over-protective about his loved ones. I've seen them quarrel and it's not a pretty sight. And check out the note he left me." Kenny handed the slip of Vega to read, watching his eyeballs move across the lines of scribbled text, the expression of shock forming on his face.

"He sounds like he could be your father," Vega noted, "except for the threat to throw you out the window. That's a little unnerving."

Kenny shrugged. "It is if you don't know him. But it's just the way he talks, I've learned."

"The two of you are close?"

"We were," Kenny admitted. "But now he's becoming more like a dad and less of the cool older sibling you always wanted to be like, you know? And that's putting some distance between us right now. I think being with Cammy is doing something to him – like he's becoming old or something."

"And how would you describe their relationship?" Vega tuned out as Kenny started blabbering away his response. He was starting to get irritated at Cammy, otherwise known as his beloved Camilla. How dare the girl try and move on with her life, especially after killing him in the manner she did. He wanted now, more than ever, to see the reaction on her face when he stood in the flesh in front of her, grinning his sadistic grin, seeing her dreams of a perfect life shattering before her. He was back, back from the dead and ready and willing to begin terrorizing her once again. And now with a new man in her life, it was going to be a little harder. But he would be killed if he got in the way.

"… and them fucking in the next is SO the last thing you want to hear before falling asleep," Kenny finished.

"This man of hers," Vega said, "your brother, what is his name?"

"What does it matter to you?" Kenny asked curiously.

"Well it's just that I heard you mention him as Cranky, and it just seems like an odd name."

"Oh, it's Craig," Kenny replied, "Craig Crankurt. But I made up Cranky for him when I was a kid and it just sorta stuck with him."

"I see," Vega replied, nodding. "Well, I best be off to continue my rounds before the boss realizes something is amiss."

"Well it was good talking with you, Mr. De La Cerna."

"As it was with you, Kenny," he said, giving a polite bow before closing the door behind him. Kenny locked the door behind Vega and headed back towards the dining area. That was certainly a strange circumstance, talking with the bellboy. How could anyone be so lazy as to stop their rounds for a quick meal? He looked on the empty plate where the toast once sat, relieved to discover the bread crust had been devoured. Kenny had a distaste for crust. As he headed for the sink, he stopped dead in his tracks, realizing that something was terribly amiss.

The fucker didn't make the bed for him.

**XXXXX**

Vega stormed angrily down the corridor of the hotel, leaving the car directly outside Cammy's suite. A part of him told him to put the cart back where he'd found it – alongside the unconscious bellboy lying somewhere on the lower levels of the hotel, but he was too emotionally charged to care right now. The youth in Cammy's suite had told him all he needed and wanted to know about the woman's life today.

She had moved on. She was in love with a man. She was _happy. _The thought sent froth spewing from Vega's mouth. He wouldn't have it. He would _not_ let her live in peace, especially after what she had done to him. The yearning to make her life a living hell was there. He knew how much suffering he wanted her to go through, but Vega was unsure of how to go about inflicting it. He wanted extract the full experience of pain out from every cell of her body, and doing so might take some planning. Perhaps weeks, perhaps month, or maybe even a couple of years. It had to be creative, it had to be agonizing, but above all, it had to be beautiful.

Vega looked the clear late morning sky and took a deep breath. He was familiar with himself. When he was obsessed with something, he would go far into it. And he knew he'd go far into making his plans, weaving them around Cammy, designing each plot element to cause her pain and suffering, and to ultimately form the story of her demise. Vega could feel it. This was the last breath of fresh air he would draw without the obsession of making Cammy pay clouding his mind. Or was it too late for that already?

He headed over to the closest payphone and took the green speaker off the hook with one hand, inserting a coin with the other. As soon as the dial tone was audible, he dialed a number, held the speaker to his ear and waited. He'd been gone from Shadowlaw headquarters since early in the morning without notifying Bison. He wondered if Bison would be angry, but most likely not, as Vega was unimportant until the final rounds of the tournament. Until then, he could do as he pleased, and most of that time had been spent training – at least, since he'd been resurrected thanks to Katarina.

And speaking of that brilliant, beautiful witch, where had she gone? The last Vega had seen of her, the woman was getting ready to destroy the Killer Bee. Vega wanted to take her down himself, but knowing full well that she could deliver Katarina's ass on a silver platter, he was never concerned for the Killer Bee's safety. Katarina was probably lying in a broken heap somewhere with her spine snapped in multiple places. The only regret in Vega's heart was that the world had lost a true specimen of beauty in Katarina's death. But the woman, as gifted as she was in the sciences, was no warrior. And if she was too stupid to understand even that, then it was her own undoing.

"Whaddaya want?" came the answer on the other end.

Vega scoffed at the crude method of speech his coworker used, a sorry excuse for a form of communication. "Balrog, Vega reporting here."

"Yeah, I figured yous be callin'," Balrog said. "Yous been gone all mornin'. The boss ain't worried or nuthin', hell, I don't even think he's noticed ya gone. Butcha better git back here soon, yea? Don't take anymore risks than necessity."

"Necessary," Vega corrected inaudibly. "Look, Balrog, thanks for watching my back for me. I'm on my way back to headquarters now."

"We's better be getting' back ta our trainin'. The tournament dudes are fightin' us ta-morrow, yea?"

"Got it. I'll talk to you soon."

**XXXXX**

"Kenny, we're home!" Cranky held the door open for Cammy as she stepped through the doorway just behind him, while he took off his shoes. He looked around, listening for a response but none came. "Kenny?" he called again, a little more urgently this time.

"Where could he have gone?" Cammy asked, locking the door behind her.

"I don't know but he better not come back if he knows what's good for him," Cranky said.

There was a murmur coming from the bedroom where Kenny had spent the night. Cammy and Cranky looked at each other. Whatever the speaker was saying, it sure wasn't in English. They neared the bedroom cautiously, listening intently, and recognized Kenny's voice.

Cranky smiled, partly from relief, and partly from the good old times, before he taught Kenny a word of English. The youth was born in Beijing, but as a result of living in Osaka since infancy, his first language had been the Osaka dialect of Japanese.

"He sounds excited," Cammy whispered.

"He is," Cranky agreed, "and with good reason."

"Is Kenny on the phone? What's he saying?"

Cranky voluntarily translated for her, pausing every few moments to hear what Kenny was saying.

"Kanjo ga hontou ni uketa?" _She made it?_

"Uso…" _You're lying …_

"Subarashii!" _That's great!_

"Nanji ni hajimaru?" _What time does it start? _

"Hai, wakatta. Kanjo ga kaeru tokoro desu. Sugu ni oshieru. Arigatou." _Yep, I got it. They just got back. I'll tell her … _

"Sore de wa Bison to tatakau chansu ga aru no ka?" Cranky gasped upon hearing the last line while Cammy listened intently to his translations. She was expecting the English version to come from Cranky's mouth and was mildly surprised when he said nothing.

"Is there something wrong, Cranky? What did Kenny say?"

Cranky struggled to form some kind of explanation for her, but his heart didn't want her to find out. She'd made it into the final tournament rounds which were starting tomorrow. He didn't want her to participate in something so dangerous. Sure, Cranky had given her his support to fight in the tournament, knowing full well she had a score to settle with Shadowlaw and most of all, M. Bison himself. But the moment was so close now, and Cranky had only just realized he never expected it. He never expected Cammy to go so far despite knowing what kind of a vendetta she had against Bison. And now he found himself fearing for her safety. He didn't want to tell her. All he wanted her to do is remain by his side and let things continue the way they were. He wanted her to forget her mission, to forget everything bad in her life and just move on with him. But the way she looked at him inquisitively with those large blue eyes, pleading with him for some kind of explanation …

"So … wanna tell me what you two are doing out here?" Kenny asked as he walked out of the room, finding Cammy and Cranky with their backs pressed to the wall while they were eavesdropping on his conversation.

Their bodies loosened instantly and they both began speaking trying to explain the situation while their fingers pointed in every direction imaginable.

"See, Cammy didn't understand the, uh …"

"…couldn't figure out who you were talking to …"

"…cause nobody … uh, replied and …"

"Well since you've already heard the entire thing, have you explained to her the good news?" Kenny asked, elbowing Cranky lightly in the ribs.

"No, I haven't …" he replied, hesitantly. "I was about to, but …"

"You got accepted into the final rounds of the Street Fighter tournament!" Kenny announced to her excitedly. "Do you know what that means!"

Cammy's eyes went wide and her jaw fell open. "Are you sure, Kenny? How did you find out? Who was that you were talking to?"

"It was a Shadowlaw tournament representative. You've been accepted, Cammy! You've received enough points during your battles, defeated enough enemies, displayed enough skill, everything is … ENOUGH! You're in!" The two of them wrapped their arms around each other and danced around the living room, laughing happily.

"I've made it! Shadowlaw is going down!" Cammy cried excitedly.

"Don't forget to hook him up to that spinal tap machine when you're done!" Kenny said. "I want him to know what it feels like!"

"And after I'll pump him full of painful body-altering steroids, erase his mind, and order him to jump off a bridge!"

"No, no," Kenny disagreed. "He won't be suffering then."

"Hmmm … you might be right." She diverted her attention to Cranky, who she noticed only then, wasn't celebrating with the rest of them. He stood in the corner, arms folded across his chest, looking stunned, his gaze on the ground. "Cranky are you okay?"

"Cammy … you know what I think."

"Oh no, please, this isn't one of those times. I'm not going on a mission for. I'm going for a tournament fight. That's it. It's not as long as a mission and –"

"But it's ten times as dangerous, especially knowing it's Shadowlaw we're dealing with!"

"Look, you know how important this has been to me my whole life."

"And that's what scares me," Cranky said. "I know getting even with Shadowlaw has been all you've been obsessed about your whole life. But can you just learn to forget that and move on? You've got me now. I thought I was all that you needed. Why do you still need to put yourself in danger?"

"You are all I will need, Cranky," she said, "in the very near future – _after_ I have gotten my revenge on Shadowlaw. Then you can be the man you are to me, without my vengeance complex getting in the way. Can you please wait at least that much longer for me?"

"Put your shoes on, Kenny," was Cranky's response. "We're going." Kenny obediently headed for the door, giving Cammy a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before moving away. Cranky turned to follow but she grabbed his elbow, begging him to wait.

"Please don't do this," she said. "I don't need this now, not at this time. All the other times – fine, but now just … no, please."

He put a hand behind her head and pulled her in closer, until their noses were just barely touching. "Come back to me in one piece." It was as much an order as it was a plea. "Without you … I don't want to think about it." And he kissed her.

**XXXXX**

Ryu clicked the phone off expertly, as if he'd used a cell phone all his life. Ken was quite impressed as Ryu handed the phone back to him. He wondered what Ryu had just heard, now that his friend was wearing a broad smile over his face. The two of them were sitting in a coffee shop, stopping by for a quick meal after the meeting earlier this morning. They'd already been here for two hours, updating each other on the past couple of years since they'd last met, and the new information they'd gotten just earlier this morning regarding their new allies in their war against Shadowlaw, and their relation to Kenny.

"Do you have any regrets taking Kenny away from the streets all those years ago?" Ken had asked, taking a sip of coffee from a small, white porcelain cup.

"No, although it seemed like a bad idea," Ryu admitted, setting down a small cup filled with green tea. In the end, it had worked out for the best. Shadowlaw would have gotten Kenny first if Ryu had just left the street child to his own devices. Cranky was a lot younger back then, and though he'd been an expert at surviving in such harsh conditions, there was no way he could have protected Kenny from Shadowlaw. Ryu's one regret, however, was separating the child from the only guardian he'd ever known. After the tournament, Ken acted as Kenny's temporary guardian but provided the youth only with money. Cranky was more than a guardian, he was a companion, and older brother, a father figure, all rolled into one person.

It was shortly after that topic of conversation had come to a close when Ken's cell phone rang. The caller, speaking English with a thick accent requested to speak with Ryu. Their conversation flowed, and Ken could understand the language of this land word for word, having spent his youth growing up in the rural mountain dojo of his master Gouken with Ryu. He refrained from telling the caller to speak in his native tongue, just to hear how badly he could slaughter the English language.

Ryu had just snapped the cell phone shut and smiled at Ken, modestly.

"You bastard, you made it into the finals, didn't you?" Ken asked. Ryu didn't say anything and just nodded. "Well then again, I don't know why I feel happy for you. It wouldn't be you anymore if you hadn't made it into the final rounds anyway. Good job, buddy. I bet you didn't even have to train for that."

"It's because I train that I have made it, Ken," Ryu explained. "Doing so keeps one in touch with …"

"Dude, I was joking, let up a little, huh?"

"Have you received word yet as to your placement?" Ryu asked.

Ken cocked an eyebrow. "You're talking to the U.S. Martial Arts champion," he bragged. "I can't believe you didn't assume I'd make it to the finals!"

"I try not to make any assumptions, but honestly Ken, I expected as much. They say it begins tomorrow."

"Yeah," Ken agreed, "and we're being shipped off to different parts of the world to face off against Bison's bodyguard panel. How many of them are there?"

"Three," Ryu replied, narrowing his eyes.

"Any idea who they are?" Ken asked.

"No, but I'm certain Sagat will be one of them."

"Ryu, Sagat is a dangerous man. It's bad enough what he can do to his opponents, but the guy actually has a legitimate hatred for you. Anger makes people do crazy things and I don't want to see you …"

"Are you doubting my abilities, old friend?"

"No," Ken said. "I'm just hoping Sagat isn't going to be one of the final matches."

"Well the matches start tomorrow," Ryu said, looking into the distance, "so we'll see who we're up against."

"It's funny that they're starting so quickly," Ken said, scratching his head. "The tournament only officially opened yesterday."

"Ken, you should already know. The final combatants haven't been completely selected yet. The tournament judges need at least two more days to decide who else to send. There are some warriors who haven't even fought their first matches yet! Besides, the final combatants are sent one by one all over the globe. We don't all go at once."

"Oh yeah, the first destination is Las Vegas, then Spain, and the final two matches are staged in Thailand," Ken said, recounting what the tournament representative had told him.

"And that's when we'll fight Bison."

"We can't face Bison one by one," Ken said. "I don't know what his fighting abilities are like, but if what I hear about the Doll Program, the Shadow Technology, the Agent Initiative and the Psycho Drive are correct, Bison is one juiced up mother. There's no chance that we can face him alone and succeed."

"Well that seems to be our only option right now," Ryu said. "Can you suggest anything else?"

"We need a plan," Ken replied. "We need a plan that will bring Bison down."

"And what could do that, other than a fight?"

"We take out his bodyguards."

Ryu's narrow eyes widened. "Are you serious?" he asked, nearly knocking over the tea cup.

"Look, the only reason Bison is capable of facing all of us warriors is because he relies on his bodyguards to wear us down. By the time we get to him, we're exhausted, and he just wipes us out."

"Are you suggesting we murder the bodyguards?"

"Of course not, this is a tournament for crying out loud. We don't kill them. But we'll injure them to the point where they can't fight anymore."

"That'll be difficult, considering if Sagat is one of the final …"

"Shut up about Sagat. It's our only hope. The sooner we can take out one of his bodyguards, the less matches the people behind us have to fight."

"So we use three warriors to knock out the bodyguards, and the rest of us take Bison on together at full strength," Ryu said, recapping everything. "I'll be honest, Ken. It sounds like a bold plan. It directly goes against tournament rules."

"At this point, fuck the tournament rules. We only play by the rules in the first place to get where we want – in front of Bison, ready to pop open a can of ass-whooping. There are more important things than the warrior's path here, Ryu. Bison's defeat will save thousands of people all over the world – their current victims, and their potential victims."

"You speak with passion, Ken," Ryu commented. "I have never heard you talk like this before, especially with something like the Street Fighter tournament. I always thought your participate to inflate your ego."

"That's what I was like," Ken admitted. "But I guess a lot's happened to me since the Alpha tournaments. I sheltered Kenny for a little while and dated Cammy. Those two taught me just how much Shadowlaw can fuck up a person. And then I met the woman of my dreams in the form of Eliza, and we're about to get married. In my life alone, there are people who've suffered at Shadowlaw's hands. If they've already screwed around with Kenny even after Cranky, Eliza and I took care of him, made Cammy barren and mess with her psyche and injected some kind of genetic altering shit into her body, imaging what they could do to you or Eliza. I'm not going to have anyone else in my life suffer at their hands."

"You've grown," Ryu said, nodding in approval.

"Heh," Ken said, letting out a nervous laugh. "About time too, huh? So what do you say, Ryu? Are you going to work with me on this?" He extended a hand.

Ryu took it into his firm grip. "We'll bring down Shadowlaw together, old friend."


	30. Chapter 25: Saving Me

Wagner was at a square table that comfortably seated four guests with a glass window to his left, overlooking the busy Osaka streets. Julian Marquez sat to his right, taking a sip from a glass of ice water, while Cranky sat opposite him, leaning on his elbows with his hands clasped under his chin. Kenny was next to Cranky, his head resting in one hand while the other held a single chopstick, twirling the tip across the surface of a bowl of miso soup sitting in front of him. All around the quartet, fellow customers, mostly business men fresh from a hard day's worked, laughed over rice wine and boiled soy beans, relating humorous work tales and smoking cigarettes. The sounds of those unwinding from a stressful day carried over to their table, where the four of them spoke in a lower, more serious tone.

"So Cammy's finally getting the revenge she deserves," Julian noted after taking a gulp, setting his ice water down. "Don't look so worried, Cranky. She can take care of herself."

Cranky had to try hard not to wince at Julian's words. "With all due respects, Father Marquez, you don't feel for her the way I do."

Julian held up a hand, signaling for him to stop. "Don't call me that anymore, please," he requested politely. "I was a fake priest. Since Shadowlaw's discovered me, it's no use for me to utilize that title anymore. There's no point." It made perfect sense for him to say that, though Cranky had always known him as the kind fatherly priest from the local Catholic Church. Making a switch to calling him plain old Julian was going to be difficult. He continued. "I know how you feel about Cammy. Don't make it sound like I've never been in love before. But you can't go on believing that the people you love are completely reliant on you. They are people too. They have their own issues, their own personal lives that you have no part of."

"Funny," Cranky replied, his words laced with sarcasm, "I always thought relationships worked best when partners are open and honest with each other."

"And Cammy's very honest with you," Wagner added. "But that doesn't mean you go off and solve all her problems for her. This is something she has to do. And don't think I care about Cammy any less than you do. She is my sister. And I don't want to see her get hurt any less than you do, maybe even more. I have just as much of a vendetta against Shadowlaw and I want to be there beside her in battle too. But I chose not to because I'm slowly learning to let go of the past and work on my future, without letting my painful memories of them get in my way. But if they ever lay a finger on me or my family again, I'll be there to fight back. That's how I deal with my past. This is how Cammy deals with hers."

"And you can't stop her from doing that," Julian continued. "If that's what she needs to do in order to move on, so be it. Forcing her to do anything else would be selfish of you."

Their conversation was momentarily interrupted by the shadow of a waitress, leaning over the table. "Dinner Combo A," she announced sweetly, laying a platter of food in front of Kenny. "Here's the sushi plate." She laid that in front of Julian. "I'll be back with the rest in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Wagner said, before she walked away.

Cranky let out a sigh, running a rough hand through his hair. "You guys are making more sense than I can stand," he said. "But I don't want to be sitting by the sidelines twiddling my thumbs while she's putting herself in danger."

"You feel like it's your obligation to be there?" Julian asked, and Cranky nodded in response.

"No," Wagner said, "it's your responsibility to support Cammy in anything that she does."

"Even if it's stupid?" Without even taking a glance at Kenny, Cranky reached over and pulled the wooden chopsticks from between the teen's fingers and snapped them apart for him.

"No, not if it's stupid. But this isn't; it's important," Wagner finished. "If you want to play an effective role in all this, be the man you are to her. You have her heart. Believe in her and pray for her. But above all, keep faith in the fact that Cammy is capable of taking care of herself. Like Julian said before, the people you love are people too. They have their own capabilities of making decisions and acting on them."

Cranky handed the chopsticks back to Kenny, never taking his attention off Wagner.

Wagner nodded his head at the youth. "And that includes him, too."

Cranky shot him a befuddled expression. "I don't understand …"

"If your history with Kenny is correct, based on what I heard from Cammy," Wagner said, "then I think you're making up for lost time. He's spent years on his own without you. You want to make up for the time that you should've been by his side, watching out for him, but Kenny has grown up and I think your guilt is making you blind to it."

Cranky raised a fist and opened his mouth to say something but Kenny quickly capped his open palm over his knuckles and forced it down gently onto the table top. "I think you should listen to what Uncle Wagner's telling you," he said.

"Kenny, this really isn't your …"

"If you won't listen to me, then at least listen to someone who's a qualified professional; someone who knows. And if anyone knows, it's him." Kenny released Cranky and bowed his head ever so slightly, pleading with Wagner with a silent gaze to speak on his behalf.

"I'm a youth counselor for the Air Force, Cranky," Wagner said. "And trust me, I know what emotions are playing through Kenny's head. It's not wrong to care about someone and to protect them, whether it's your brother, sister, friend or lover. But there is a line that is drawn between protecting and smothering."

The lecture continued well into the night.

**XXXXX**

"I'll see you at the other side," Cammy said, giving Ken a tight hug before leaving her for the evening. The two of them stood in the long, elaborately decorated corridor of her hotel suite, after a celebration meal of fresh Kobe steak, sashimi, mashed potatoes and caviar. The food was costly enough in itself, but this being the busy port of Osaka, nobody had the money to afford that kind of meal, let alone suggest going to one of the highest class restaurants the city had to offer. But it was Ken who suggested it, and it was Ken who had voluntarily picked up the bill, but to the guilt of his other guests.

Chun Li was joined in on the celebration, walking in as the cold, anti-social Interpol agent everyone had come to know and love anyway. But she left the place in a giggling fit, face red as a direct result of too much red wine and sake. Ryu had quite a bit to drink as well, after his meal, but the only sign he gave was a slight stumble after they rose from their table, which he blamed on the dim, romantic lighting.

Ken teased the both of them, calling it the "Asian-Alcohol-Syndrome," an act that earned him a slap on the shoulder from Cammy. Guile was present as well, and as a result, Cammy found it difficult drinking in front of her adoptive father, and kept her alcohol intake to a bare minimum as a result. She wondered if he still remembered the time he went away on a mission, leaving the house to her and Wagner, then just sixteen years old. The adoptive sibling had thrown one hell of a party, inviting everyone they knew from school. Guile had come home a little earlier than expected to find the house trashed, the furniture torn up, and not an in of carpet clear from a layer of vomit.

"Guile leaves tomorrow morning," Cammy noted audibly to herself, though Ken heard it as well.

"He'll be clearing the path for us," Ken said, nodding.

"It's a good plan," Cammy added, reassuring him. "We'll each take out at least one member of Bison's panel of bodyguards. The path will be cleared for Ryu to get to Bison."

"And we'll all get our share of him."

"When does your flight leave for Vegas?"

"Mine goes in the afternoon," Ken explained, "just a few hours after Guile leaves. He'll fight the opponent in Vegas, I'll take the one in Madrid, you'll go in and finish off the one in Bangkok, and Ryu will make his way up to Bison."

"But what if one of us doesn't succeed?" Cammy asked.

"There's no shortage of tournament finalists," he said. "Out of all the participants, twelve of us have been admitted to the final rounds."

"Really?" Cammy asked. "Which ones?"

"T. Hawk made it, believe or not," Ken said shrugging, "despite forfeiting the match with you. There are a few oddball personalities in the running too, like this one Indian monk, that Sumo I fought, some green freak of nature rumored to be from the jungles of Brazil … the list goes on."

Cammy's eyes went wide. "And we're _all _going to get a shot at Bison?" Cammy wasn't liking the fact that she had to share Bison with all these other people, people who might want a piece of him as badly as she did. What had he done to so many people? Simply realizing how many lives Shadowlaw must have screwed with was overwhelming. She wondered if she was just an item on Bison's list of victims, or if he would even remember who she was.

"Provided we get through the bodyguard panel first," Ken continued, breaking her train of thought. "I'm not concerned about you cause I know you can handle yourself. But I'm more concerned at how Cranky's taking the news."

"He's learning to deal with it," Cammy replied, shrugging. "Wagner promised he would talk to him for me and help him accept it. I'm not going to pass up this opportunity, not even for Cranky. He doesn't understand what Shadowlaw has done to me. He wasn't there in the beginning. Not like you were. That's why he can't understand."

"I've got faith in Wagner," Ken said, patting her on the back. "Your brother's definitely changed a lot since the last time I saw him. I wouldn't worry about Cranky. Anyway, get some rest, Cammy. I'll see you before I leave in the morning."

**XXXXX**

Katarina felt the sharp, painful slap of Vega's hands across her face. The force of the strike threw her head back and she fought the urge to retaliate. Vega was a seasoned fighter and would most likely kill her before the battle reached its climax, if it would even get there in the first place. Instead of even uttering a word back to him, she just bit her lip while tolerating his abuse, forcing the tears from seeping out the corners of her eyes.

"How dare you show your face back here, especially after mingling with the street fighters!" he bellowed. "Who are you to go against the rules Shadowlaw has placed for you? You don't find anything out about your past until you have earned it!"

"I have earned it," Katarina said, her voice meek, and soft. "I've climbed up the ranks of Shadowlaw's scientific ranks. I've worked on all three major bio-technological projects. I am the most respected scientist in this entire base. How have I not earned the right to learn about my past?" The better question was who was Shadowlaw to prevent her from being reunited with her family?

"Tell me," Vega said, his voice suddenly eerily lowering, speaking calmly to her, "was it worth it to you? Was turning your back on Shadowlaw worth going in search of your family?"

"I found a brother," she said, avoiding a direct answer.

Katarina was regretting ever having mentioned anything to Vega. Cammy had told her that a successful relationship required honesty and trust. Katarina scolded herself for thinking her relationship with Vega was legitimate. She had told him about her endeavors during the day, when her department had reported her as AWOL. Vega asked her, and she thought he would appreciate her honesty. Katarina was doing it for their relationship. She wanted it to work with him. But now she was beginning to see that it wasn't going to work. She felt more like Vega's possession than his lover; the way he treated her like a rebellious child, not giving her any sense of dignity, freedom, or the most basic of human rights – coming to know and love her own family, finding out the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of her parents. Everything she had a right to know was being kept from her.

Whatever Cammy had said in their scuffle the other day was starting to make sense to Katarina. In a way, she was glad Cammy had killed Vega. Katarina had slaved day after day with little rest all these years to make sure his resuscitation process flowed unobstructed. And this was the kind of thanks she was getting.

Vega slapped her, harder this time, on the opposite cheek. "I will not tolerate my subordinates defying me like this!" he cried, his face burning red with rage. "And the price for your disobedience, my sweet …"

He cornered her to a wall, bathing her small form in his six foot shadow. He looked down menacingly at her from his height advantage and grabbed her throat with one hand, putting just a little pressure on her windpipe to make her squirm. Now the tears flowed more freely from Katarina's eyes, partly from the fear and partly from the semi-suffocation. Vega ran his other hand along her thigh and up the white skirt she wore, hooking his finger underneath her panties.

"No, Vega, please don't …"

"Your price," he whispered heavily on her neck, his breath hot and animalistic on her soft skin, "is your honor."

Despite the physical activity going on in Katarina's laboratory that night, the loud cries and moans were that of anything but pleasure.

**XXXXX**

Ryu was supporting Chun Li with one arm wrapped around her waist. Chun Li's arm was thrown over his shoulders, and he held her securely by the wrist with the other hand. They walked down the hotel corridors slowly, stopping every few moments for her to make the world stop spinning. It wasn't fun for Chun Li anymore. All the alcohol she had taken in was now creeping in on her, and she knew she was due for a killer hangover the next morning. Ryu, despite being under the influence himself, was holding himself much better than Chun Li was.

"Steady, there," he said to her, when she lurched forward, threatening to spill the contents of her stomach. "I don't think Ken would appreciate you throwing up your food all over the place. It cost him a fortune you know."

Chun Li managed a half-smirk. "I didn't know you were the kind for jokes," she muttered. It wasn't so much that she was displeased with him, and more so the fact that she didn't have the strength to put more energy into her speech.

"You're lucky you leave for Vegas tomorrow evening," Ryu noted. "You have a whole day to recover from the hangover."

"They're really throwing us into Bison's bodyguard panel one after the other," Chun Li mumbled. "I wonder how confident they are in these warriors that they're making fight the lot of us. I swear, I'm gonna kick Bison's ass to kingdom come." She performed a weak kick, her heel scraping against the carpeting. The move made Chun Li lose her balance and she fell to the ground, and into Ryu's arms. "Good catch, Romeo," she said, her eyes half closed.

"This isn't the best time to be horsing around," he said, "we need to rest for tomorrow."

"Rest, schmest," Chun Li said, waving a limp wrist. Ryu was trying in vain to pick her up, but her body was nothing but dead weight in his arms. "I haven't been this happy is soooooo long. I'm gonna make this feeling last as long as I can. You wanna come into my suite?"

"Chun Li," Ryu said, putting his back into it, "time to get up." He lifted the Interpol agent back to her feet. "You're in no shape to have anymore fun. Bed is the only place you're going. Hey – are you listening to me?" Chun Li had rested her head on his chest and completely passed out, the only thing keeping her upright being Ryu's grip on her waist. Ryu sighed outwardly and scooped Chun Li up and carried her the rest of the way to her suite.

Upon rounding a corner, he nearly crashed into Wagner. The both of them jumped, and Ryu almost dropped Chun Li, now fast asleep in his arms.

"Whoa, that was close," Wagner said, while Ryu struggled to maintain his balance.

"What are you doing up this late at …" Ryu began to say, and then noticed that Wagner was carrying his much Cranky, wearing him like a backpack. Cranky's arms were thrown over each of Wagner's shoulders while he held onto them at the wrists, leaning forward to balance both their weight on his legs. Cranky's head was rested on the top of Wagner's skull, the stubble on his chin scratching painfully at his scalp. Cranky's feet were dragging on the floor as Wagner struggled to move forward with every step.

"What happened to him?" Ryu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Same thing that probably happened to her," Wagner replied, nodding his head at Chun Li, sleeping peacefully. "Me and Julian had a little talk with him today at dinner and the next thing you know we're at a bar guzzling beer."

"Where's Kenny? Wasn't he with you?"

"I took him home after leaving the diner," Wagner replied. "Julian, me, and sleeping angry over here went for a few drinks after."

"It doesn't sound like Kenny to just accept being left out of something like that," Ryu smirked.

"It was a struggle, but we convinced him that they wouldn't let him in the bar in the end, anyway," Wagner shrugged. "Besides, Cranky wouldn't let him anywhere near alcohol."

"If you want to wait here," Ryu offered, changing the subject, "I'm going to take Chun Li into her suite and then I can come back and help you with Cranky."

"It's alright, Cammy's suite isn't far from here. Now …" Wagner paused to re-shoulder Cranky, "I gotta get going if you don't mind. He's heavy."

They bid each other goodnight and parted ways. Ryu continued heading down the corridor in the direction Wagner had come from, still carrying Chun Li. Her weight was beginning to tire his arms, though only slightly. He remembered at the beginning of the tournament when the participants were disclosing personal statistics to the doctors to be placed in their records. When they had asked Chun Li for her weight, she was adamant about keeping that information to herself. And Ryu didn't think anyone actually knew her weight. Gauging the strength he was using to keep her aloft, he estimated at around 130 lbs, but he couldn't be sure.

A shadow loomed over them both and Ryu instinctively snapped his head up at the intruder. Judging by the low energy levels, he didn't think the intruder was up for a fight, yet the shadow was huge.

"Issei," Ryu said, greeting the soldier. He was wearing a white T-shirt this time, with a green army vest over top and the same army fatigues he had on this morning. Despite the upper garment changes, his face, bearing a strong resemblance to Kenny, and the sheer size of his body were unmistakable. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at Shadowlaw headquarters?"

Issei's face nodded grimly, his lips pressed into a frown. "I need help," he said, like a helpless child.

"What's wrong?"

"Katarina's missing."

**XXXXX**

Juli hadn't stopped crying for the past few days. She had barely moved either. Her athletic, curvaceous body was yelling at her to at least get up and do some walking around the hotel suite which T-Hawk had generously let her stay in while he participated in the tournament. She didn't even answer the phone calls for him while he was out training. The caller had left a message announcing his acceptance into the final rounds, but Juli had barely heard it. She didn't even notice the sun rise over the horizon and set on the opposite direction. Day or night made no difference to her. Time had no meaning to her in this state of mind.

The only thing she understood was Cranky – more specifically, the fact that he wasn't there and he was never coming back to her. True, it was Juli who had severed their relationship but it was for the better good that she felt she had to do it. She refused to be in a relationship that served Cranky strictly as a refuge for his difficulties with Cammy. Juli had no desire to be further used. First it was Shadowlaw. They used her as an assassin, and shortly after she was freed, she fought tirelessly to regain her humanity. She thought she'd found it when Cranky came along, teaching her how to love like a person, and leaving her to love, period. That was an emotion that had been dead in her since she was a fourteen year old girl, when Shadowlaw took her. But despite the happiness he gave her, in the end, it turned out that his feelings for her hadn't been real at all. He was simply using her.

The pain was excruciating. Her body felt fine, but her heart sagged. It felt like it was made of stone, zapping the energy from her body, pulling her towards the ground. All of that energy had gone into her brain, all of it focused on one thought – Cranky's absence. And then it materialized into tears that flowed freely down her face, staining her skin and her pillow, drying into crusted ravines.

Juli couldn't understand how people could love if this was the kind of punishment one went through if their heart was broken. It must've been a lot safer to not give your heart out to anyone. That was her brain talking then. But her heart understood that people don't choose who infatuates them. It was as if people's hearts had a mind of their own, throwing themselves at seemingly random people, while taking their physical bodies along for the ride; like an anchor chained to their ankles.

Then the idea came to her in a flash. Juli wondered why she hadn't thought of it earlier. After all, T. Hawk wasn't around to stop her. He'd been kind to her after she was freed from Shadowlaw, always standing by her side. But he was her brother, not her lover. Juli had little, if any reason to doubt his motivations. He'd left for America just a few hours ago for the last few rounds of the tournament. He told her to stay here and take care of herself. And Juli planned to take care of herself but she'd only just realized how she could do it.

She rose from bed, her entire body groaning with stiff joints, bedsores making her wince. Just how long had she been lying there for, anyway? Juli headed straight for the room door, leading out into the living quarters. It was night, but what time of it, she had no idea. Not that it mattered anyway. A relieved smile crept across her face. The darkness and loneliness didn't bother her anymore. She was going to be alright.

Juli didn't even bother putting on her shoes when she headed for the main door, walking out barefoot into the corridor. She turned around and reached for the suite key, closing the door and locking it behind her. She left the key at the foot of the door and turned a right, towards the elevators.

**XXXXX**

The nighttime lights of Osaka were beautiful, Kenny thought, as he exhaled a plume of smoke into the air. He brought the cigarette back up to his lips and took another puff, taking note of how the translucent smoke discolored the lights in its path. It was a warm night, but the breeze was cool and it felt good, very therapeutic. And from this height on the roof of the hotel, the winds were slightly stronger than they were at street level. He could see the okonomiyaki joint where he worked, before he was taken by Shadowlaw. Since being rescued, he hadn't bother to contact Mr. Takayama about his recent absences. And come to think of it, he hadn't even been home to his apartment since being rescued. He'd been so caught up in all the drama surrounding his family, rekindling the brotherhood and friendship he shared with Cranky when they were children, and trying to stay out of the Street Fighters' way that he had completely forgotten about his life from a little more than a week ago.

He wondered what would happen to everyone once the tournament ended. Ryu would probably head back into the mountains and live like a hermit until the next tournament began. Uncle Ken would probably go back to the States with Aunt Eliza and continue sending him their money so he could support himself. And Cranky …

What would happen to him? Kenny suddenly found himself panicking. He'd first learned of Cranky when he arrived in Raccoon City for a visit. Cranky had revealed Kenny's past to him, and that was the kick in the ass the youth needed to get his memory running again, which was how he now remembered the street fighters and most importantly, Uncle Ken, who he only knew before as Mr. Masters. With the exception of the three month gap after Raccoon City that Cranky and Kenny had spent apart, Cranky had been there with him the whole time, helping him remember, simultaneously rediscovering and continuing a friendship between the two of them that had started nine years ago. No … farther back than that.

But Cranky was in love with Cammy. She lived in London. There was no doubt in Kenny's mind that Cranky was going to follow her. Not that he minded the fact that they were together. He couldn't think of a better woman for his brother than Cammy White. And the fact that she was a street fighter just added the cool factor. Kenny not only approved of her, he was enthusiastic about accepting her as one of the family. But he never once considered the fact that Cranky could follow her to England. That realization was the source of Kenny's panic.

He didn't want to be alone again. Almost a decade of that shit was enough for him. He was so relieved to hear that there were people back here that cared about him, the street fighters, the closest thing to a family that he had. But the street fighters only gathered when there was a tournament. After the tournament, they would return to their lives, their normal lives that Kenny had no part of. Back when he first met the street fighters at the tender age of six, he had Cranky to fall back on. But now even Cranky was going to leave.

"Get a grip," he mumbled to himself. "You've done it before. How hard can it be to do it again? Living on your own …" His mouth said the words, but his heart wasn't behind them.

A woman was sobbing somewhere nearby. Her voice was gentle, innocent, and he could feel the weight of the sobs. It sounded like she was crying for him, though Kenny brushed the thought aside quickly. If the world revolved around him, his life would not have been what it had turned out to be. His curiosity got the better of him and Kenny decided to track down the source of the mysterious crying.

"H…hello?" he called out, his voice shaking. The sobbing paused for a moment, and then continued like the crier hadn't heard him. "Is anybody there?"

Then he heard a sniff. He expected to hear that same sweet voice to talk to him gently, and he hoped he could calm down whoever was crying. But instead, he received a stern order.

"Don't come near me," the voice said. Only this time, it wasn't as gentle and innocent. She sounded like a world-class bitch, and the nerve that someone would talk to him like that when he was just trying to be nice.

"Don't worry," he shot back. "I can smell you good enough from here …" And then he choked back his words, his gaze falling upon the speaker.

She was a beautiful young woman, her beautiful toned body showing through a silk nightgown she wore. Her hair was a dark shade of brown, tied into a bun with the exception of the bangs that framed the sides of her round, gentle face. Her eyes were a rich black that sparkled in the moonlight. The soft breeze tugged at her nightgown and loose wisps of her hair that had fallen free from the bun. As beautiful as she was, that wasn't what caused Kenny to gasp in surprise.

It was the fact that she was standing beyond the guard rail, on a narrow ledge that hung over the streets at over fifty four stories.

"M…ma'am," he said, staying rooted to the spot, extending a hand for her to take even though she was standing too far away, "if you want someone who'll listen to you, I'm standing right here and I'm not going anywhere. Whatever you do, don't take that last step." He saw her throat rise as she looked down, her body leaning over the edge, held in place by her hands that had a firm grip on the guard rails.

Kenny's mind was immediately transported back in time to when he was forced to jump a cliff and gunpoint. If it wasn't for Colonel Wolfman of Delta Red, he would made that jump. And he remembered paralyzing fear of realizing that you were about to die. He remembered his mind and his heart fighting each other, one telling him to kill himself the less painful way, the other telling him not to commit suicide. And he could see the look in this girl's eyes too. The same dilemma was going through her mind, only this time, it was her heart telling her to jump, not some guy with a gun. Kenny kept talking, hoping to distract her.

"You don't want to do that," he said. "Yeah, it'll be over quick, but think about how long that fall would take before you hit the sidewalk. Only a few seconds, I'm sure, but those will be the longest seconds of your life. What if you change your mind in midfall? Then there's nothing can do and you'd be subjecting yourself to death. Can you imagine the fear of dying when you don't want to?"

"What makes you think I'll change my mind?" she asked.

"Because you would've already done it," he replied. "You wouldn't have hesitated to jump just because I showed up. Or maybe you were hoping I'd stop you. Maybe you have something to live for after all."

The girl shook her head, fighting back more tears. "No, I don't, actually. He left me. He used me. The man I gave my heart to … he just …"

"Forget the fucker," Kenny said. "Anyone who treats someone else like an object should be the one standing on that ledge. Not the victim."

"But I loved him so much …" she admitted weakly.

"Is your life worth so little to you that you'd die over someone who doesn't care about what happens to you?" Kenny pressed. "Why waste your life over scum when you could be spending it looking for the man who'll appreciate you for who you are?"

"What if I don't ever find him?"

"Oh he's out there, I'm sure of it. He just doesn't know who you are yet. Come on." Kenny wiggled his fingers, his arm still held outstretched. "Let's get down from there and find this guy for you, er …"

"I can't," she sobbed, shaking her head. "I don't have the strength to search. I don't want to search. I just want him to love me."

"I could probably convince you otherwise," Kenny said, "I took law in high school, and I was mighty good at it, FYI."

"You can't change someone's heart with words, only their minds."

"Will you at least give me a chance?"

She thought about it for a second and decided to entertain his delusions for a few minutes. Besides, it would help to take the pain away. The girl nodded and smiled weakly at him. "Fine," she said, "tell me why I should continue living while I'm only suffering like this."

"Thanks, ma'am. My name's Kenny," he said, "and who's my suicidal patient today?"

"Juli," she replied.


	31. Chapter 26: To Safe a Life

Wagner stumbled into Cammy's suite, struggling with the door handle while Cranky lay unconscious on his back. His neck, back and thigh muscles burned with effort by the time he arrived, and the heavy door wasn't making things any easier. With all the commotion Wagner caused, Cammy was startled from inside her suite and she came towards the door to find out what all the fuss was about. She stood in front of her adoptive brother dressed in a white robe, blonde hair falling loosely over her shoulders, blue eyes wide with fright at first. She calmed down when she saw Wagner standing there, and then started panicking again when she saw her unconscious boyfriend being carried by him.

"Oh my goodness," she cried, rushing over to his side, "what happened to Cranky?"

"It's okay, sis," he said, "I can handle this guy. Just point me to his bed."

"Well," she replied, looking a little nervous, "the bedroom's over there." She pointed towards her sleeping quarters, earning her a startled expression from Wagner.

"Where do you sleep, then?" he asked.

"We sort of share … um …" Cammy scratched her chin nervously.

"Nevermind," Wagner interrupted, "I don't want to know. Just help me with the doors."

The both of them struggled to get Cranky to the bedroom, Cammy rushing ahead to open the doors for Wagner to go through. He dumped Cranky on the bed, watching his body bounce off the soft bed. The mattress creaked with his weight, but settled down after the second bounce. Wagner brushed a hand across his forehead and sighed.

"Thank God that's over with," he breathed.

"You still haven't told me what happened to him," Cammy said, wanting an explanation.

"Oh isn't it obvious enough?" he asked, waving his hand at Cranky, who lay sprawled across the queen size bed, snoring lightly. "The guy's drunk. As if you can't smell the alcohol reeking off his body."

"Funny, I thought I was smelling it off of you."

"Well I guess we all had our share of drinks."

"You should know better," Cammy said, folding her arms across her chest angrily. "You know what Cranky's like around alcohol and yet you take him out for a few rounds?"

"Actually, no I don't," Wagner shot back. "I've only met the guy once before and you were so stuck on making a good impression of him on me that you failed to mention that little tidbit."

"Whatever," Cammy said, looking away from him.

"Did you have fun with the other successful contestants tonight?" Wagner asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, I did," Cammy replied. "We're all pretty nervous but it's to be expected."

"Cranky's been worried sick about how you're going to handle it."

Cammy rolled her eyes. "He just doesn't have enough faith in me," she explained simply. "I hope you were able to talk some sense into him."

"We had a long conversation over dinner tonight. It's not just you he's been overprotective about. It's Kenny, too."

"W…where's Kenny?" Cranky asked, roused from sleep by their conversation.

Cammy looked to Wagner, alarmed. "I thought he was with you guys," she said pointing at his chest.

"We dropped him off here," Wagner explained, "after we finished with dinner. Where could he have gone to?"

"Why wouldn't you keep him close to you?" Cammy scolded. "You know how unsafe it is for him to be alone, especially when we're not sure exactly what Shadowlaw wants done with him, if anything. It's a risk I'm not willing to take. He was kidnapped once, and nearly forced to kill himself. He doesn't have the capability to protect himself against them!"

"Well we thought it would be safe in the hotel!" Wagner protested. "How the hell was I supposed to know he would leave on his own? I thought you'd have drilled it in his head by now to stay safe!"

"Oh God, I don't remember being this much of a pain in the ass when I was that old," Cammy said, running her fingers through her hair in frustration. "We've got to find him."

"Try the rooftop," Cranky mumbled, half asleep. "When he wants to be alone, he likes to be on top of the world with a really nice view, maybe have a cigarette or two. I bet you he's up there."

"You really think so?" Wagner asked. "I guess it's worth a shot." Wagner started for the door but Cammy interrupted him.

"I'm coming too," she said.

Wagner shook his head. "No, you stay here and make sure Sleeping Angry gets tucked in and drinks lots of water if he wants to prevent a killer hangover tomorrow morning. I'll go bring Kenny back down here."

"And if he's up there," Cranky continued, "whoop his ass for me, for not staying inside where it's safe."

**XXXXX**

Juli was sobbing as she sat on the edge of the ledge overlooking the city below. The strong breeze that once served a therapeutic purpose for Kenny now panicked him as it looked like it would blow the frail woman off the ledge and to her doom. He just kept talking to her, hoping to distract the poor girl and delay her plans, hopefully enough for help to arrive. But nobody knew they were up there. Who was going to come and stop her from killing herself?

"He said he loved me," she said through her tears. "He told me time and again. He said I completed a part of him." Juli turned to Kenny, revealing her streaked face. "Why in the world would somebody lie to a woman like that, knowing her heart was on the line?"

Kenny shrugged. "Listen, some guys are assholes. Everyone knows it. It's just the way they are and you have to learn to stand on your own two feet and kick them out the door."

"I did," she sniffed, "but I still feel this pain." She motioned towards her chest, swallowing back more tears. Kenny was surprised Juli had anymore tears left to cry after they had sat and talked like this for what, twenty minutes now?

"You can be strong and love someone, be emotionally dependant on them," Kenny said, not knowing where he was getting all this from. "But before you can do that, you need to know whether that person is capable of bearing the responsibility of someone else's heart. This guy, whoever he is, clearly screwed you over. He doesn't deserve you, he doesn't deserve anything. Why bother killing yourself over a loser like him when you can just as easily push him over this very ledge?"

"Because he got me to love him, that red-headed son of a bitch," Juli cursed. "The bastard played me like a fool, and my God, he was a good actor. And now it's too late for me to take it back from him. Cranky … that bastard."

Kenny bit his tongue, causing him to jerk once in pain. But the physical pain his teeth had administered to his tongue was nothing compared to the shock that he felt when he heard Juli mention his name.

"C…Cranky?" Kenny asked, hoping she would repeat it.

She let out a sadistic laugh. "Yeah, it's a weird name I know. Said it was a nickname his kid brother made up for him and I thought it was cute. But that was probably a lie too, just to win me over with his charm."

Kenny's mouth was open in a gawk, trying to choke out words, but his shock only made him look like a fish out of water. The silence hung over their heads for longer than Juli had expected, and she looked over her shoulder at him, waiting for some kind of response. Kenny looked from the ground before his feet and into her eyes.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

"It wasn't a lie, Juli," he replied, finally.

"And how would you know?"

"Because I made it up for him."

Juli jabbed a finger in his direction. "T…that can't be," she stuttered. "How're you…"

"I'm the kid he's talking about. Or, I was, anyway. It's been a long time and I've … sorta grown since then."

"But you don't even look alike … AT ALL."

"I'm his adopted brother," Kenny said, shrugging. "You're not the only one to ask, don't worry about it."

A horrified look crossed Juli's features. She held a hand to her mouth, trembling. What had she just done? She'd spilled her heart out to someone she believed was a kind Samaritan who was trying to stop her from jumping to her doom. But he was more than that. If he ever told Cranky about her predicament when she was trying so hard to forget him, Cranky would probably come after her and tell her to stop this nonsense and try to win her over and the whole godforsaken cycle would begin again. No, she couldn't – _wouldn't_ have it. She turned away from Kenny suddenly, closed her eyes, and took the final step.

"NO!" Kenny cried, lunging over the rail guard after her. The top bar of the guard caught him in the lower abdomen and he winced as the pain shot into his hip bone and intestines. He caught Juli by the back collar of her nightgown, who was now leaning at an angle sharp enough to cause her to plummet if he'd so much as let go.

"What are you doing!" she shrieked angrily. "Let me go … let me GO!"

"Are you crazy!" Kenny bellowed. "If I let go, then it wouldn't be suicide anymore. I'd be the one killing you. And I'm not about to do that."

"You wouldn't be in this situation if you'd just minded your own damn business!"

"This is my smoking spot!" he cried. "You picked the wrong rooftop to jump off of, honey. Blame your own poor decision making skills."

"Why you little …"

"You ungrateful …"

"Let me GO!" Juli reached around and grabbed Kenny's wrist and tried prying his fingers from her collar. Kenny would've pulled her back to safety but at this point, he was leaning out too far and would risk pulling himself off the ledge with her if he tried. And Juli's struggling wasn't making it any easier.

And then Juli did it. She freed herself from his grip. She fell forward, but had accidentally taken Kenny with her. They both tumbled from the ledge, falling headfirst. Kenny clamped his eyes shut, feeling the rush of wind to his face while Juli screamed as they fell. But … were they falling? Kenny felt a rush of blood to his head. He was upside down and looking beside him, so was Juli. But the wind had stopped. The both of them just dangled there held by some mysterious force strong enough to keep them both suspended …

"Wagner!" Kenny cried as he looked up, seeing his face red with the effort on keeping his hold on the both of them. Wagner had reached his arms between the railings, one hand around Kenny's ankle, the other holding Juli, her gown baring all there was to see. Wagner's face was pressed up against the railings as their combined weight crushed him against it, and he tried not to look at her display.

Turned out that Juli wasn't screaming from fear. She was screaming in anger that her plans had been foiled by two do-gooders.

"Kenny," Wagner said, the veins and muscles in his neck straining with visible effort, "are you okay?"

He poked a finger into Juli's cheek. "This psychotic bitch tried to kill me!"

"I did _not_ you little liar!"

"What the fuck is up with that? Pulling me down with you!"

"It's not my fault that you _jumped_ after me!"

Wagner let out a sigh, at least as much of one as he could. They were alright, and thank goodness for that. Now the tricky part was getting them up.

**XXXXX**

Guile's flight was to leave in half an hour. They stood at the departure gates to Osaka's Kansai airport, headed for Las Vegas where he was going to face off with the first warrior of Bison's bodyguard panel. The members of the panel were being kept a secret from the competitors until the actual match. Guile would be heading blindly into the match at a disadvantage, having never seen any of his opponents fight before, let alone lay his eyes on them. He'd have to choose his tactics in the heat of battle. First impressions count and that fact had never rang more true for Guile in his life.

"Stay safe, Guile," Wagner said, turning his adoptive father around by the shoulder. The two of them clasped hands and pulled each other into an embrace.

"I will," he said, making a promise he didn't know if he could keep.

Cammy had to tip toe to wrap her arms around Guile's torso and he, just as well, had to lean down to reach her. "I swear if any of them lay a finger on you," she began.

"It's a tournament," he said, grinning. "I think they're gonna be doing a lot of that. But don't worry. They've got the same thing coming back at them tenfold."

"Best of luck to you," a fourth voice added, a late arrival.

"Colonel Wolfman!" Guile exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"We're here to support Cammy," Wolfman said walking up to them with Ken in tow, "but since you're her surrogate father, you have our backup if you ever need it."

"I think I'll take all the help I can get," he chuckled. "It's hard, being the first one."

"We'll be right behind you," Ken said, clapping a hand to his shoulder.

Guile had a mixed reaction upon seeing Ken. At one time, he had been Cammy's lover, a rich, spoiled teenager whom he did not approve of, turning Cammy against him. But now, years later, he stood before Guile as a matured man, as grown up as Cammy was. And it was the fact that he was supporting Guile in their war to bring Shadowlaw down. Although Guile's initial reaction was to frown with disgust at him, he welcomed Ken with an arm around the shoulders.

"Literally," Ken continued, "I'll be right behind you. My flight leaves in a few hours and my fan club is about to arrive any minute. Oh hey, here's two of them right now!" He pointed into the distance to Eliza and Kenny who were moving their way towards the group. When they arrived, Ken gave Eliza a hug and a kiss on the lips and ruffled Kenny's hair.

"Are you headed off now, colonel?" Eliza asked him.

"Yeah," Guile confirmed, "I should really get going before the plane leaves without me. Sorry I can't stay to chat longer."

"There'll be plenty of time for that when this is all over with," Eliza said.

Guile gave Eliza a compassionate hug, gave Ken a firm handshake, patted Kenny on the back and was sent on his way to his native land to face a warrior he'd neither seen nor heard of, with his friends and family waving goodbye. His heart beat in his chest, tears welled in his eyes and for the first time since joining the tournament, he felt truly alone in his struggle against Shadowlaw. It was ironic, since this was the end, the final rounds of the tournament, where teamwork played the biggest role; the key to their victory.

**XXXXX**

The sun was high in the sky by the time lunch rolled around, and the group headed for a nearby Chinese restaurant, just a ten minute drive from the airport. Colonel Wolfman had left the group to attend to "matters requiring immediate attention" and bid Cammy and the others a hasty goodbye. The aroma of fried dumplings, fresh noodles and roast pork filled the air, making their mouths water. The group was seated at a round table covered with a fine white cloth. A circular rotating glass platform was set in the center of the table allowing all to reach for the various dishes upon it; hot and sour soup, chicken friend rice, fish and tofu clay plot stew, and deep friend vegetable dumplings.

Ken shoveled the food into his mouth from a small bowl in one hand, with a pair of chopsticks he held in the other. Eliza wasn't quite as practiced with chopsticks but held her own nonetheless. Piping hot tea was served to the guests in small porcelain teacups that could fit easily into the palm of a hand, which Cammy was now enjoying while Cranky, who had just recently joined them along with Julian, had some troubles of his own.

"It's too damn small," he complained.

"You don't hold it in your hand," Cammy instructed. "Use your finger tips and sip from the cup. No, don't chug it like that!"

"It burns!" he cried, reaching for a glass of ice water.

Cammy let out a hearty laugh at his stupidity and leaned her head onto his shoulder. This is what she'd imagined their future to be like – full of laughter at the smallest things, surrounded by their friends and family. She wished that moments like this could last forever. But at the same time, she didn't want this to be the most intimate it got.

"How about a round of drinks for everyone?" Ken suggested, waving his teacup in the air.

Cranky shook his head. "Not after last night," he said, feeling his stomach churn at the mere mention of more alcohol. "I think I'll be feeling the effects for the rest of the day."

"Aw, suck it up and take it like a man!" Ken taunted, throwing his arm around Julian. "See, he's up for it!"

"This is the last thing Cranky needs," Julian laughed, "after Wagner had to haul his sorry ass home last night – literally."

"God," Kenny breathed, "I know I could totally use a …" but he was cut off by a glare from Cranky. "A … another glass of water," he continued. "I'm thirsty."

"I wanted to say," Cammy said to him, "it wasn't the best idea to leave the suite last night. If you wanted a smoke, the balcony would've been a good place. Cranky was starting to get worried, mumbling in his drunken stupor. I was so glad when Wagner came back with you."

Wagner and Kenny exchanged quick, worried glances.

"What took you two so long to come back anyway?" Cranky asked.

Kenny opened his mouth to reply, but Wagner beat him to it, speaking louder than necessary. "I got lost," he lied. Then mumbled softly to Kenny. "I'll do the talking." Then back to the group. "Which reminds me … there's, uh … a little matter I've forgotten to take care of. Next time, dinner's on me." He rose from his seat and motioned to Kenny, sitting beside him, who also began to rise.

"Well I guess I'll be seeing you guys when all this is over, huh?" Ken said to the departing duo.

"Kick their assess good, Uncle Ken," Kenny said.

"Waste 'em for me, Masters," Wagner followed.

"Oh, you guys know I will," Ken winked.

Cammy narrowed her eyes at Wagner, noticing something was amiss with her adoptive brother. He was a good liar as a kid, but seemed to have lost the touch as he grew older, as Guile helped to put him on the right path in life. She wasn't entirely comfortable with the way he stammered and how he jammed the last words of his sentence together in one long slur. His movements suddenly seemed quick and jumpy, almost clumsy in a way like he was struggling to suppress himself from breaking into a run.

Meanwhile, Cranky was staring suspiciously at Kenny. The teen didn't make eye contact with anyone as he stood from the table, bowed his head modestly, announcing his departure. He always had something to say and would say whatever was on his mind, more often than not. Cranky had learned to adapt to it a long time ago, which was why it had troubled him when Kenny remained meek and silent before leaving. It just didn't feel like him.

Cammy and Cranky turned to each other, locked eyes, and simultaneously said, "I don't trust him."

**XXXXX**

Luwanda wandered down the hollow metallic corridors of the Shadowlaw base in Thailand. Her main base of operations was here, to gather information on Bison's plans for the street fighters, and perhaps if she could, thwart them. At first, the information she'd received from Colonel Wolfman told her that this was a less important mission, as most of the action was taking place in the Mount Fuji base in Japan. What importance could some backyard Shadowlaw base, just a few miles from the Pattaya City suburbs hold? She'd been here for the last few weeks, working under cover, keeping track of Shadowlaw's every movement. It was dry for Luwanda at first, watching her co-workers work behind closed doors, only their silhouettes against closed blinds giving her any hints pertaining to their activities. She'd written down as much as she could – what her higher-ups wore, their daily schedules, their mannerisms, everything that she didn't particularly care about, hoping that it could provide some clue to the Colonel.

The first week was interesting, as she made her janitorial rounds, cleaning up the scuff marks left by hurrying scientists, cleaning up their shit stained toilets, and refilling the hand soap and paper towels in the washrooms. But as time went on, her activities fell into a routine. She got be familiarize herself with the faces of those scientists that shared the same routine path as she did every day. The short guy with glasses would nearly bump into her at the same time every morning around the entrance. Towards the elevators would be a man in a business suit coughing into a pink handkerchief. Then he'd take off these impossibly large glasses and place them in his breast pocket. When she reached the first floors of her rounds, there'd be that lady with the unbuttoned shirt walking past her, breasts threatening to spill from her lab coat. The list of faces went on and the more Luwanda thought about it, the more people she could recall.

As dry as things were, they began to pick up a few days ago. Her boss had given her special orders, for the first time since she was "employed" there, to have the place extra clean for a special guest. She wondered who could command such fear among her own corrupt, snot nosed employers, but couldn't come to her own conclusion. Since day one, they had been making her work ruthlessly. She went in under the guise that she was a French maid looking for a job and was willing to travel all over the world for it. It was a good thing that Delta Red's training kept her body fit or she would never be able to put up with the strenuous physical activities her bosses placed on her, activities designed to make her hurt by the end of the day. Rumors ran rampant around the base that the special visitor was going to be Bison himself. That bit of information, whether true or not, sent Luwanda's pulse racing. If it was indeed true, then this would be the opportunity they were looking for; an opportunity to take him down from the inside. Cammy could no doubt do a good enough job of that, as she had a chance to face him directly in battle, but Luwanda, Colonel Wolfman, and the rest of the Delta Red team help around behind the scenes.

Luwanda was on a break from her duties, cell phone in hand, ready to speed dial the Colonel to tell him the news. She left the complex for the outdoors, the humid heat making her break out in sweat the moment she stepped out from the compound. As soon as her foot hit dirt ground, she hit the speed dial for the Colonel's number, held the phone to her ear, and waited.

"Wolfman here," he answered gruffly.

"Luwanda reporting, sir," she replied, voice thick with a British accent. "I've got some good news. Well, it's more of a rumor actually, but word has it that Bison himself is due here shortly. Now would be a great time to come up with some sort of battle plan."

"Thanks for bringing this to my attention immediately, Luwanda," he replied, "I can see that planting you in the Shadowlaw's Thai headquarters was a good idea. But I'm already aware of this. The successful combatants are due to face Bison in Thailand in the final match."

"So the rumors are true then, sir?"

"That's right. I have another important task for you."

"Just name it."

"I was recently approached by Ryu. I'm sure you've heard the name before. He's the standing street fighter champion."

"I've always wanted to shake his hand, sir."

"Well recently, we have been successful at recruiting two important figures with Shadowlaw to assist us," Wolfman explained. "They are a pair of fraternal twins; one of them a head scientist, the other an admiral with their military forces."

Luwanda's mouth gaped open. "H…how were you able to do that? Are you sure we can trust these people?"

"It's alright. We have reason to believe they would never backstab us. It turns out that Shadowlaw's victims aren't limited to those outside their ranks. These two have been through a lot of emotional suffering during their stay with the organization. And I think their cover's just been blown."

"What did Ryu have to say?"

"He was accompanied by Admiral Issei, one of the twins I was just telling you about. Shortly after their meeting with us, his sister went missing. I've had Ginzu, along with the cooperation of Interpol track down her whereabouts, and we've got reason to believe that Katarina has been taken to Thailand. She should be arriving with Bison."

"Can you be sure about this?"

"No," Wolfman said, the confidence deflating in his voice. "But that's where you come in. I need confirmation from you. The girl's name is Katarina Feng. Please, Luwanda, do whatever you can to confirm her presence upon Bison's arrival."

"You got it sir."

"Alright. I'll pass the news over to Ryu and Issei. Wolfman out."

**XXXXX**

"We shouldn't have left her alone," Wagner said, shaking his head. His voice was full of concern for the girl they'd rescued from killing herself last night. "She's in no shape to be left on her own right now." He turned to look at Kenny, strapped into the passenger side of the rented car as they sped down the Osaka highways, back towards the hotel. "Why did you leave her alone?"

"Oh, so now this is _my _fault?" he asked, disturbed by the fact that Wagner was holding him responsible for anything that she might do to herself. "If you were that concerned, you would have stayed with her and made sure she was alright!"

"I thought we agreed last night that she was never to be left alone! The poor girl is heartbroken and suicidal! You remember the deal. Cranky doesn't find out, and Juli doesn't get left alone. If we slip up on either …"

"Uncle Ken was leaving today! I couldn't just sit around. I had to say goodbye and besides, Aunt Eliza wanted me to go too. That's the least I can do for the man whose been giving me money for free my whole life! Besides, forgive me for thinking that you, of all skilled professionals, would be the one by her side."

"Kenny, I can't do this by myself," Wagner groaned. "I have other commitments and I don't have the time to sit around playing counselor to a suicidal girl."

"You're the perfect candidate to do that!" Kenny countered. "Isn't it your job?"

"My own surrogate father was leaving for a very important battle today! Did you expect me to not show up and wish him luck?"

"Hey, we're in the same damn boat so don't go around pointing fingers at me, especially when what you're asking of me is difficult enough. How can I keep this from Cranky? He almost skinned me _and _Cammy alive for keeping her secret from him. Imagine what he'd do to me this time."

"Cranky would never do anything like that to you," Wagner said. "He's your brother. He loves you."

"All the more reason to tell him, Wagner. Cranky's never told me about Juli before. But if what she says about their relationship is true, then I'm sure he'd want to know."

"Don't, Kenny. It's not good for Juli."

"Fuck that. He would've found out if she managed to kill herself anyway. And that would've been worse."

The car peeled into a crash parking job on the sidewalk just in front of the hotel. Wagner and Kenny had already unstrapped their seatbelts long before and jumped out of the car in a hurried frenzy, forgetting to lock the car doors behind them. But there were more pressing matters at hand. It was likely that Juli tried her crazy little stunt again when they weren't around to stop her. Understanding this, the both of them fought back the temptation to blame one another when they realized they themselves were equally responsible. Kenny and Wagner flew past the bellboys, and the hotel's other guests, as if racing each other to Juli's suite.

"Please be okay, please be okay," Kenny repeated, the hope driving him on.

"She was too beautiful to just let die." Wagner didn't say that. His mind did. And for a moment, he wondered where it came from. But there was plenty of time to figure out his emotions later. Right now, there could've been a life at stake.

Wagner and Kenny screeched to a halt when they saw two familiar figures standing before them, looking at them angrily with arms folded across their chests.

"Cammy!" Wagner cried.

"Cranky!" Kenny gasped. "How did you …"

"You don't just up and leave in the middle of something as important as that," Cammy scolded, "especially when you are being treated to lunch." She walked up to Wagner and grabbed his ear, twisting it painfully between her fingers.

"Ow, ow, Cammy, stop – OUCH!" he winced, face turning red.

"I don't know what matters you have to attend to, Wagner, but _nothing _is more important that supporting our friends, our families in their time of need."

"Kenny, book it!" he ordered. The teen turned to find another way up, but only succeeded in running into a one-armed headlock that Cranky delivered.

"You're staying put too, kiddo," he said, while Kenny struggled helplessly in his grasp.

"Cranky, let go! This is urgent!"

"If you are going to lie, then you need to do a better job. Don't forget, I was the one who taught you to lie and I can see through your tactics. Now you're not going anywhere until you tell us what's going on."


	32. Chapter 27: Sibling Rivalry

"Are you going to tell me, Kenny?" Cranky asked, forming a fist with his free hand, the other wrapped tightly around the youth's head. "Or am I gonna have to noogie it out of you?" He tapped his knuckle lightly on Kenny's skull.

"Okay, okay, I give!" Kenny surrendered, his voice breaking with fear. "I'll tell you, just let me go!"

Cranky released him as per Kenny's request and placed his hands on his hips. "Now out with it," he ordered.

The youth stole a glance at Cammy, who released Wagner's ear. Her brother brought his hand up to it, now red, and began rubbing it against the side of his face, wincing. Wagner looked at Kenny and shook his head, trying to change his mind about what he was about to spill.

"Not here," Kenny said to Cranky, and then more quietly, "not in front of her." Cranky looked over his shoulder to his girlfriend and gave Kenny a questioning look. He continued, "You'll thank me later. Right now, we need to take a walk."

"What's the meaning of this?" Cammy cried, not quite expecting that kind of answer from Kenny.

Cranky's mind was swimming with worry. As far as Cranky could recall, there was only one thing he felt uncomfortable discussing in front of Cammy, and that was Juli. But he had made it a point never to tell anyone about Juli, not even his own adoptive brother. Kenny had no idea she even existed, so that couldn't be it. But what else could he know that couldn't be mentioned in front of both him and Cammy?

"Wagner," Kenny called, "I'm taking him upstairs. Join me as soon as you can."

"Hold on a minute!" Cammy demanded, still not quite yet understanding what was going on. Wagner and Kenny were good at speaking subtly to each other, like some sort of code, and it was frustrating to her that even as a member of Delta Red, she couldn't figure it out.

"Hang on a minute, babe," Cranky said to her, holding up a hand. "Let Kenny tell me what he will. I'll talk to you about it later … whatever it is."

Kenny let out a chuckle. "Yeah, my ass you will."

**XXXXX**

The tournament organizers wasted no time in throwing Guile right into a fight. He had only just landed in Las Vegas and the first thing on his schedule was to face the first warrior. He was only given sufficient time to stretch before the match. Upon getting off the plane, he was whisked away by a tournament official in a limousine holding up a sign with his name scribbled on it in black marker and forced to endure another hour of transportation. It was in that hour that he got some sleep.

The fighting grounds consisted of a roped off section of a busy street. It was just a section of road and sidewalk, with a crowd of people gathered around. The city's elaborate lights flashed all around him in the humid desert air. Sweat was already collecting on his forehead, the back of his neck and his chest and he had only just gotten out of the car.

A large form stumbled into view, an aboriginal man from Mexico or South America. But it didn't take Guile long to figure out who he was, given the trademark denim outfit with sleeveless vest, and the feather sticking straight up from a band wrapped around his head; T. Hawk, the man Cammy faced in battle back in Osaka, the same man who forfeited the match with her for some unexplained reason.

T. Hawk stumbled from the ring, the fight completely beaten out of him. Blood stained the front of his denim vest and ran all over his face. His eyes looked into the distance, not registering anything in his immediate surroundings. Somebody yelled for a doctor in the background and a team of paramedics dressed in dark colors despite the night's heat came running, yelling orders at each other. They carried a stretcher between the four of them, with another two large police officers beside them to help in case they needed any assistance with the lumbering, injured warrior.

"T. Hawk," Guile said, approaching the giant's side.

"C…careful," he advised, before collapsing into unconsciousness. The paramedics rushed up with the stretcher in their hands, and caught the fallen warrior. His weight took all four men down with him. The police officers ran up to help get the big man strapped into the stretcher and into the awaiting ambulance.

Guile noticed a stationary ambulance next to the one T. Hawk was about to be loaded into, with another team of paramedics ready to leap into action. "They're waiting for my turn," he said quietly to himself.

Guile turned to the fighting "platform" and looked at the warrior standing there, crashing his red-gloved knuckles together with an evil, toothless grin spread across his dark features.

This opponent had short hair braided into cornrows and dark skin. His upper body, clad in a light blue sleeveless wife beater, was astonishingly built, veins popping from every bulge of muscle. His legs were proportionately thinner, calves narrowing into skinny ankles that disappeared into brown boots. A large belt that, from this distance, didn't look unlike one a pro wrestler would have, was strapped around the man's waist.

"Man, I dunno how that last guy made it to the finals," the warrior said to Guile, as if the two were discussing the weather, in that kind of casual manner. "Yous betta be more of a challenge. Cuz if this is all Bison's gonna pit me against, or Balrog here is gonna get real disappointed."

Guile didn't say anything. He just ground his teeth and stared the opponent down, trying to determine how to fight him in a brawl based on his stance and posture alone. But Guile wasn't as good at telling these things as Ryu was, so he decided to leave the deciding for later in the match.

A pair of women who appeared to be twins from a distance were each clad in a two piece bikini suit, one red and one blue. They stood within the roped off area, where the warrior and Guile were scheduled to have their match and entertained the crowd between rounds, prancing, showing off their smooth, shapely legs, thrusting their hips, and meeting the gazes of hungry men who drooled at them from just underneath the brims of their matching colored top hats.

Guile and Balrog paid them no attention, however, focusing on each other. Guile couldn't believe the boxer had just come out of a round with T. Hawk and had barely suffered a scratch. There was something amiss …

"Hope ya practiced real good, pretty boy," Balrog taunted, "cuz the Shadow Technology's workin' pretty well today." He tapped his chest with a gloved fist.

Guile tensed and looked at Balrog with distaste, and a hint of concern. Did this moron even know what he was talking about? If he had the Shadow Technology within him, did he know what that meant for him? Guile remembered the war with Shadowlaw in the Alpha three tournaments, thought about the kind of suffering the technology did to Kenny. But it'd been a long time since then, and Katarina had contributed her expertise to the work, probably changing so much that it wasn't anything like it used to be. Perhaps it was a more controlled version of the work as opposed to the prototype introduced to Charlie and Chun Li?

The bikini women removed their top hats suddenly, bringing Guile back to where he stood, in the hot, dry air of a desert city, in the middle of a street surrounded by people and flashing lights. And in front of him stood a man, armed with the Shadow Technology, ready to beat the stuffing out of him. Out of the hats flew a flock of doves, and the crowd burst into oohs, aahs, and applause while brilliant camera lights flashed.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the women announced through megaphones pulled seemingly out from nowhere, "the second rounds are about to commence! Are you all ready to see a fight!" The crowd roared, their energy directed towards the two long figures standing off in the middle of the fighting surface. "I said, are you ready to SEE A FIGHT!"

The crowd exploded into cheers, hollers and whoops as the brilliant lights of Las Vegas flashed rapidly in the background, as if they had been timed to correspond with the battle about to take place. Balrog narrowed his eyes at Guile and raised his fists. Guile turned slightly sideways and leaned on his forward foot. He was going to start out on the offensive just in case he had a chance to get the upper hand, but not too much, just enough to get a feel of Balrog's fighting style.

"Round One …"

**XXXXX**

The elevator's doors closed, cutting Kenny and Cranky off from Cammy and Wagner, who still remained behind in the lobby. Kenny felt his stomach lurch as the elevator began its ascent into the upper reaches of the hotel, where Juli was when they last left her. According to what she told him about her relationship with Cranky, he wasn't so sure it was a good idea to take him to see her. Kenny was planning on having a long talk with Cranky, not just about her, but about everything in general, a talk that was long, _long _overdue. And that's what he had planned when he told Wagner to meet in him Juli's suite. Wagner would show up, take care of Juli, while Kenny remained on the rooftop with Cranky and scolded Cranky on the roof for being a dick. He wanted to pat himself on the back for such an elaborate plan cooked up in less than a minute.

"So?" Cranky asked, getting impatient. "We're alone now. I want to hear everything you've got to say."

Kenny swallowed hard before realizing he was about to open an old can of rotten worms, one that he wasn't supposed to even know about. He was careful to look straight ahead when he spoke, avoiding eye contact with Cranky at all cost. "Who's Juli?" he asked innocently.

Though Kenny's couldn't see it, he felt Cranky's face drain of color. The air in the elevator suddenly got extremely tense; so tense, that he was afraid to make a movement, in case Cranky was getting furious with the sudden surprise.

He nearly sighed with relief when Cranky showed extreme nervousness instead. "W … what … um … I don't know what you're talking about."

"You might be able to see right through my lies," Kenny said, a little more confident this time, "but don't think I can't see through yours."

"S … she's just someone I fucked around with for awhile," he said quickly, trying to shrug it off. "She's a part of my past."

"That's it?"

"Y … yeah," Cranky stammered, "that's it. A past mistake."

"Wow, you _are _an asshole," Kenny said, turning away.

"Hey!" Cranky yelled, shocked that he was being spoken to this way, by Kenny of all people. "Don't you _ever_ use that kind of language with me! Juli and I were together once, and that's it. Are you telling me once I get together with a girl, I can't ever leave her?"

"Leave her, alright," Kenny replied. "But you don't leave her heartbroken. Not the way you did it."

"Kenny," Cranky said, struggling to suppress his anger, "don't go making calls on my life. All this bullshit happened while you were in Raccoon City, blissfully unaware of my existence while I worried every FUCKING day and night about you for nine damned years! You know nothing about what I went through. Don't start making judgments."

"First of all," Kenny retorted, stabbing a finger at him, "how the hell do you think I felt when you suddenly waltzed into my life less than half a year ago, telling me shit about myself that not even I knew about! Do you have any idea how violating that feels, when a complete stranger starts calling you by your name, knows where you live, and runs around with a fucking shotgun?"

Kenny paused to catch his breath, and continued. "At the end of that Raccoon City nightmare, my intuitions about you were right. I could count on you to back me up. You gained – no, REGAINED my trust and respect, after some supposed memory wipe I don't even remember going through. Then all of a sudden, my life on my own, my freedom was taken from me by an older brother I never knew I had. You still treat me like a fucking six year old child when you know damned well that I lived alone for a long time WITHOUT you! So the next time you decide to call me on making snap judgments, you'd better think about who's judging who!"

"Great job living on your own for nine years!" Cranky cried sarcastically, clapping his hands together in mock applaud. "And you've done a considerable amount of growing up from a cute little kid to a selfish, lazy, disrespectful, chain smoking teenager!"

Kenny winced at the hurtful comment, but the sadness quickly turned to rage. "Fuck _you,"_ he said in a low voice. "Who the hell gave you the right to criticize my life after being absent for more than half of it! You know abso-fucking-lutely nothing, yet you still act like you know what's good for me!"

"Don't make it sound like I'm trying to run your life, you little shit!" Cranky screamed. "It's called trying to keep you safe from Shadowlaw and you show your gratitude by running off, disobeying simple requests, and all of it for what? A smoke break? You have the _worst _priorities I've ever come across! You brag and brag about spending all these years alone, about how capable you are by yourself. Well why don't you fucking show it for once, and prove to me you don't need me to hover over you!"

"You think I need _you_ to watch over me?" Kenny was so hysterical with anger, a crazed smile formed over his reddening face. "I may need someone to set my priorities straight, but it sure as hell isn't you! Boozing it up every night, fucking every pussy on two legs that walks by? That's why you hurt Cammy. That's why you hurt Juli. And I have every goddamned right to judge you when what I know about your relationship about Juli comes from the woman herself! If anything, you're the last person on earth I'd want watching over me - "

**THWACK!**

Kenny shot up an arm, barely blocking the back of Cranky's hand from delivering a sharp, powerful blow to his cheek. He'd stopped Cranky just in time, as his knuckle pressed into the skin, forming a deep impression there. "I can fight back now, Cranky." His voice, shaky with fear, betrayed the point he was trying to get across.

But Cranky was equally surprised. He wasn't expecting Kenny to have such quick reflexes. Even more shocking was the fact that he'd raised a hand to his brother. It never in their long history ever happened before, despite his short temper. And judging from Kenny's shaky voice, his reluctance to look him in the eye, the heavy breathing, the youth was struggling to keep his shock in check too.

Thankfully, the doors to the elevator slide open just then with a high pitched ding and Kenny thundered out, leaving Cranky inside with a shocked look on his face. Snapping back to reality, Cranky followed suit, yelling the whole way, trying to keep up the anger that burned through him just a few moments ago. But upon attempting to hit Kenny, the surprise of his actions killed any emotions he was feeling up to that point.

"And what the hell were you doing with Juli? How do you even know about her?" Kenny headed for a random door and pulled it open and stepped into a room with a flight of stairs leading up another level to a door. Cranky continued ranting. "As if you haven't done enough damage with Cammy, now you're sneaking behind my back and trying to backstab me with some vengeful ex-girlfriend of mine who it was a mistake being with in the first place! What the hell motivates you, Kenny? Why are you turning the women in my life against me?"

The adoptive brothers reached the top of the stairs and Kenny kicked the door there open in anger. It flew violently open as he stepped through, then swung back to hit Cranky in the face, but he drove a bricklike fist into it, creating a massive hole in its wooden surface, the splinters flying toward Kenny who promptly ignored him.

Kenny walked over to the edge of the roof and pointed at a narrow ledge beyond the guard rail. "I'm not doing anything to your love life," he said, a little calmer now. "I want you to be with any girl who will make you happy, Crank. But you don't seem to get that while the girl has your heart in her hands, you also have hers in yours. You threw Juli's back at her, and last night, she jumped after it … from this ledge."

**XXXXX**

Guile felt Balrog's first crushing blow against his jaw line, the boxer's pinkie knuckle just scraping past his bone. That was the result of Guile dodging the uppercut as fast as he could, but despite his experience in the combat field, his opponent was equally, perhaps more trained than he. Guile stumbled backwards and managed to regain his footing. But Balrog wasted no time in letting him do that. He continued coming for the airman with a barrage of punches that hit hard. The boxing gloves were designed to deal maximum damage without sacrificing the protection of the puncher's fists.

Guile glanced down at his own fists, bulging knuckles that have seen their share of street fights. But they were bare, vulnerable, naked to the world. That was a weakness he could not afford to let Balrog exploit. Guile's feet were clad in combat boots, designed with excellent traction and armored on the outer layers with thin steel plates to prevent the thing from falling apart. Balrog's boots were made for indoor gyms. Now that was an advantage Guile had.

He continued the match for the next two minutes analyzing his opponent as Balrog came at him with a smorgasbord of punches and no kicks, like the true boxer he was. Five minutes into the fight and already, Guile had a pretty basic idea of what he was up against. He'd already established that the boxer fought purely with punches, and thank goodness for that. If he possessed as much skill with his legs as he did with his arms, Guile would be hard pressed to leave the fight in one piece.

Weak lower body power explained Balrog's inability to jump very far. He was as graceful in the air as a pregnant elephant, jumping up high, and landing barely over two feet away from where he pounced. But he made up for his lack of reach with incredibly long arms. Guile took full advantage of this, somersaulting forwards and backwards in the air, gaining distance only when he saw fit, retreating before Balrog could punch back.

The boxer had caught onto Guile's tactic a little sooner than expected. After the second repetition of his pattern, Balrog realized that leaping this time wasn't going to do the trick. Instead, he feigned an attack, and waited for Guile to counter attack. And it came in the form of a "sonic boom." Guile hooked his arms around his body with such speed, he'd released a burst of chi in the form of a pair of twin spinning blades that sliced through the air towards the boxer.

That move would've effectively stunned any opponent, rooting them to the spot with fear and confusion until the blades smashed into their bodies before they even realized what was going on. But Balrog was not fooled. Only the best street fighters made it into the tournament, and if a fighter couldn't even control the smallest amount of chi, well, that was a testament to their skills as a warrior and usually ended up in defeat in a battle against someone more superior. That's what the preliminary rounds were for; to separate the amateurs from the experts.

With Shadow Technology enhanced focus and concentration, Balrog waited until the projectile attack was about to make its mark on his ape face. Time slowed down to a crawl, and it was as if he could see the spinning chi blades in every detail, waiting for them to come closer, until he could feel the heated air surrounding it. Then he spun, barely dodging it, charging up a counter attack of his own. The blades sailed by, and that was when Balrog threw his turn punch, throwing the weight of his entire body behind the blow.

So quick was his attack that his body moved a good six feet forward, rapidly closing the distance between him and his opponent. Guile was caught unguarded and ate Balrog's Gigaton Punch, the boxer's glove driving the air out from his stomach and lungs. Guile desperately tried sucking in more air even while he flew through the air, too disoriented to catch his balance, but it hurt his lungs to move. He ended up crashing into the pavement, almost sailing through the platform boundaries.

Balrog pounded his fists together, toothless grin widening of his face.

"Come on, airman," he taunted, "I'm not finished with yous yet!" Guile continued rolling on the ground for a second longer, trying to get enough air in his lungs so he could at least stand up. The lights of the Las Vegas city scene combined with the stars he saw in his vision to form a twisted mirage of stars, random alphabetic letters, and laughing human faces.

"Fuck it," Guile told himself. "If your vision's failing you, shut it out. Rely on your balance, your fighting instinct."

Balrog came at him with another punch. This one Guile was able to anticipate and crouched low, sweeping out leg in the process. He struck the boxer's ankle with his left foot once, twice, three times, and then switched - swept out with his other leg once, continued moving at the momentum he gained and kicked out with the opposing leg for a four hit leg sweep combination attack that knocked Balrog off his feet.

The boxer flipped upside down, his head falling towards the pavement after having his own feet kicked out from under him. But that was a punishment too merciful for Guile, especially for one of Shadowlaw's best fighters, for someone endowed with the Shadow Technology. A fraction of a second was all it took for Guile to take the chi surrounding his body and focus it on a single point on his foot. He somersaulted backwards, tucking one leg closer to his body while the other delivered a devastating kick that cracked Balrog's skull, the impact tossing the Shadowlaw boxer into the air. It was the same move he executed on Wagner, a super version of his normal flash kick. Normally, Guile wouldn't bother utilizing chi manipulation in fights, an ability that transformed his normal techniques into almost super-human ones. All the street fighters were capable of this feat, but Guile never found it necessary to use it against opponents unless they possessed some kind of unfair advantage. He'd used the move on Wagner back on the highway, when his adoptive son was still under the control of Shadowlaw, and it had worked. He could only hope that it would work this time.

Guile somersaulted a second time, striking Balrog as he flipped around uncontrollably in mid air, but on his third somersault, the one that would throw his opponent highest into the air, the boxer somehow managed to parry the blow and counter attack with a super attack of his own while Guile struggled to finish his.

The last thing Guile saw before completely blacking out was a clash of two concentrated chi sources – his, which glowed blue, and Balrog's which was probably red, but tainted black by the Shadow Technology. Guile's last conscious thought was a memory of Chun Li telling him once that the Chinese believed in the color of one's chi, one's aura. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember which color was good and which was bad.

**XXXXX**

Wagner thundered into Juli's suite with heavy footsteps, his lungs screaming for air, sweat dripping down his face. He burst through the unlocked door and dashed inside. He looked around the room that was built with the exact same layout as Cammy's, and similarly furnished. It was dark inside here. The drapes that covered the balcony door were drawn, shutting off the afternoon sunlight. The place smelled vaguely of cleaner and disinfectant, nothing to indicate that a human being had been in here without leaving for Lord knew how long. The counters and tabletops were spotless, suggesting that someone had either done a hell of a job cleaning up, or this place hadn't been used in awhile.

Cammy followed him from a few steps behind, gasping for breath. "W…what's the rush!" she wheezed. "Why are you bringing me here?"

"Where is she?" Wagner wondered aloud. "Juli, she's not here."

That caught Cammy's attention. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Juli," Wagner replied, turning around to face his sister. And then he realized it was Cammy he was talking to, suddenly remembering their shared rivalry with each other. "Um, forget about it, sis, it's a long story."

"What are you and Kenny doing associating with her?" Cammy asked. Given the circumstances, Wagner had prepared for Cammy to be pissed after his little slipup with muttering her name, but she seemed more confused than anything.

"Well, you see, last night …" Wagner began, but was interrupted when the frail woman's form emerged from the bedroom, her hair in tangles, but at least she had changed out from her night robe from the night before, and into a white T-shirt and tight jeans that flared at the ankles, accentuating her feminine curves.

"Wagner," she said weakly. A smile was about to form on her gentle features when she suddenly noticed Cammy, and the half smile died instantly. "What brings you here?" she asked her, trying to sound polite, though her anger faintly accentuated her tone.

"I'm with Wagner," Cammy replied. "He's got something to show me and I certainly wasn't expecting to run into you here unless …" The women's agitated gazes switched from each other and onto tall, blonde, youth counselor standing between them.

"What's going on here, Wagner?" Cammy demanded.

"You leaked about what happened last night?" Juli asked, her hands balling up into trembling fists at her sides.

"No," Cammy answered for him, "but now that you mention it, I would like to know. Wagner, what are you doing with her?"

"Okay, time out!" Wagner shouted. "I didn't tell anyone about what happened to you last night, Juli. And Cammy, it doesn't concern you so you don't need to know."

"Then why the secrecy with you and Kenny?" Cammy asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"Because it's about Cranky," Juli explained.

"That bastard! Don't tell me he lied to me again. He better not still be screwing around with you."

"He's not …" Juli replied, looking down sadly. "Don't worry about me, Cammy, I pose no threat to you and your relationship with him. He's gone from my life."

Cammy's expression softened then, suddenly feeling like a bitch for the way she was talking to a girl that shared a similar past with her in Shadowlaw. They should rightfully be supporting each other to regain their humanity after serving the crime organization as mindless dolls for seven years. Their recovery from such brainwashing would take a long time to complete, and they were going through the same things physically and emotionally. Why were they letting a man come between them and their relationship that they both needed from each other?

"Juli …" Cammy began, approaching the emotionally drained girl. "What happened to you last night? If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. But if you're hurting …"

"She tried to …" Wagner began, but Cammy shot him a look.

"Girl moment," she said.

"Juli?" Wagner asked her, and she nodded back at him, sniffing back tears.

"For a few minutes, please." Wagner sighed and made his exit from the room, leaving the two girls to … to … to do whatever it was girls did when one so much as shed a tear. So much for him watching over Juli like he and Kenny had promised each other. Now that he'd brought Cammy into the equation, his sister somehow was beginning to single-handedly take over the entire comforting process that he and Kenny took so much time to plan.

**XXXXX**

Cranky froze where he stood, the anger suddenly disappearing from his face. He knew he'd hurt Juli with his cheating ways, but he thought she'd hurt him more. He thought she was going to move on with her life after bidding him goodbye back at the cafeteria the other day. Cranky had no idea this was what she meant by moving on!

"How come I didn't hear anything about it?" he gulped. "If she died …"

"Better for you, right? After all, you said it yourself. She was a mistake."

"N … no," Cranky corrected his earlier claims. "I meant the way I handled it. That was a mistake." His eyes were beginning to redden. Kenny could see the tears of grief coming from the corners of his eyes. Maybe he did legitimately care about Juli. That was definitely some good news to tell her. She did have something to live for after all.

"She's not dead," Kenny said then, saving Cranky from a guilt driven breakdown. "I stopped her."

Cranky breathed a sigh of relief, his head sagging. Then he looked back up at his adoptive brother. "Thank you," he said, resting a hand on the youth's shoulder.

He shrugged in response. "Well, she took me off the ledge with her and then Wagner came and saved both our asses. But … we'll just leave that part out. It's better for my ego that way. After all, even selfish, lazy, disrespectful, chain smoking teenagers need something to be proud of."

Cranky smiled and sniffed back a runny nose. He pulled Kenny into a hug, and patted the youth's back roughly, saying, "I'm sorry, kiddo. I … I didn't really mean it that strongly. And back there, when I tried to hit you …"

"It's alright," Kenny said. "I know I pissed you off. I probably deserved it."

"When it comes down to it, blood or not, you're my little bro, and I love you even if you are the most aggravating little brat I've ever come across."

"I'm fifteen."

"Make that BIG brat."

"I'm not trying to ruin your life, Crank," Kenny said. "You gotta believe me. I … I'm sorry for calling you an asshole … and for saying I don't need someone like you watching my back. I want to be like anyone who's selfless and strong enough to take on the responsibility of a kid at sixteen years old. I'm almost the age you were when you took me in. And I don't think I can do now what you did for me then."

"Thanks, kiddo," he replied, honestly. "That seriously means a lot. But you were right about my faults. I was an asshole to Juli, and I know it. You're just a few days too late to tell me that. I already called it on myself first. She dumped me just a few days ago, just after I told her and Cammy about each other. I thought I'd see the last of her, and I thought she'd be okay in time."

"Well, now you know she's not."

"So that's what you and Wagner were rushing back here for?" Kenny nodded. Cranky clapped a hand on his back. "Take good care of her, Kenny. Make sure she makes it out of this. I'm sorry to ask you to clean my own mess up for me."

"You don't want to see her?"

"I think in the long run, it'll be better for Juli to never see me again. I may have been an asshole to her, but I still care about her enough to do this."

"So you've already made up your mind. It's Cammy then?"

Cranky smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's Cammy all the way."

"Hey, Cranky, I wanted to ask …" Now was a great time to bring it up – what Kenny had remembered the other day when he helped coax Juli out of killing herself …

"Hm? Ask me what?" he asked.

"Cammy's great," Kenny began, "I really like her and I'm glad you're with her."

"Uh … huh …" Cranky said, nodding slowly while he waited for the 'but'.

"I mean, heh, she even got me a pack of smokes behind your back."

"She what!"

"The point is I fully support you being with her."

"That's good to hear, Kenny, but … what's bothering you?"

"I know she lives in Europe. And after all this is over, Cammy's gonna go back to her old life, and I'm probably staying here, and …"

"I see where this is going," Cranky nodded. "You've been doing some thinking too, it looks like. Me, I've been trying not to think of it, especially with all this other tournament bullshit we have to deal with." He groaned, and rubbed back of his neck, regretting what he was about to say.

"What's gonna happen to you, Cranky?"

"I don't know what kind of arrangements we'll make, but I'm not going to keep the facts from you. I can't live without Cammy. She can't live without me. You … you understand this, right?" Cranky paused and looked at Kenny for a second, waiting for his reaction, but none came. "Hey," he said tapping him on the shoulder, "why the long face, huh?"

"What long face?" Kenny asked innocently. "I just wanted to know, that's all. I think it's cool. Maybe I can come visit you guys some day. It'll be awesome, having a whole apartment, or better yet – a house – all to party in!" He turned to face Cranky, smiling broadly.

"You're welcome anytime," Cranky laughed, smiling back.

"Anyway," Kenny said, getting back to his feet, "I better head back inside and check on Juli."

Cranky looked on as Kenny ran back into the hotel, remaining where he stood. The youth disappeared behind the door with a gaping whole where his fist had penetrated the wood, waiting for it to slam shut. When the coast was clear, Cranky let the smile fade from his mouth and shook his head in dismay. "Fine with everything, are you, Kenny?" he asked aloud. "You really are a God-awful liar …"


	33. Chapter 28: Rescue Mission

"Hey, Crankurt, what's up?" Ken Masters' voice spoke cheerfully from the other end of the line. "The long flight's been kicking my ass, and all I wanna do is get up and move about. Sucks what adrenaline can do to you, but with a big fight coming up, you can hardly blame me."

"I can understand, Masters," Cranky replied. "You're about to get a fight, but not in Las Vegas as scheduled."

"Holy shit," Ken gasped, "you don't mean …"

"I just got word," Cranky continued, "that Guile has taken out Balrog, the first of Bison's bodyguard panel. Your plan's working."

"That's great to hear! Wow … I just … I'm shocked."

"Look, Ken, I want you to watch out." Cranky's tone lost all carefree pretense as he started speaking in a lower, more serious tone. "I can't confirm it, but rumors are running rampant that the bodyguard panel has been outfitted with the Shadow Technology. You know, that shit they put into Kenny all those years ago."

"I haven't heard about that technological devil spawn in awhile."

"Yeah, and with the improvements Katarina's made towards the work, who knows what else it can do now."

"How'd you find this out?" Ken's voice was wavering, cracking with fear.

"Chun Li's been looking into the deal with Colonel Wolfman. You're being redirected straight to Madrid, where the second battle of the four final rounds is to take place. After that, assuming you put Vega in his place, it's off to Bangkok for you."

"Is Guile meeting up with me in Spain?"

"No," Cranky replied, shaking his head. "He's been put out of commission. The fight with Balrog has taken a toll on him. Technically, Guile's been disqualified along with Balrog. It's as if the match ended in a draw."

"Enough to take Guile out …"

"That's why I'm warning you to be on the lookout. Vega's deadly enough on his own. And to think what he could be capable of with such advanced technology in his system …"

"You don't need to worry about me, Crankurt," Ken said. "I can watch out for myself. How are Cammy and Kenny doing back there? You keeping a close eye on them?"

"I don't think we'll need to worry about Cammy."

"That's good to hear. So then what's up with the rascal?"

"We just got into a little disagreement," Cranky explained. "It's nothing huge. He's just got problems with authority figures."

Ken let out a hearty laugh. "I'm sure he had a mouthful of comments for you too."

"Hmph …"

"Well, you are family after all."

"Yeah," Cranky said, then changed the subject, "I should be letting you go soon. I'm racking up quite the cell phone bill here. But there's one more thing I'd like to discuss with you."

"Out with it."

"I've got plans to open up a bar."

"Oh?" Ken sounded legitimately interested. "Businessman now, are we?"

"I just wanted to run the idea by you, see what you think. It's gonna be an Irish pub. I'm probably gonna start out small with one location, and save up enough money to open up a couple more in different countries."

"Where are you thinking about building this business?"

"London."

"I'm sure they've got their share of Irish pubs over there, being in such close proximity with Ireland and all. But opening up one in Osaka – now that'll be something the Japanese don't get to see everyday. But … are you sure you know what a legit Irish pub is like?"

"Well I _am _Irish …"

"Irish American," Ken corrected, "there's a difference. Let's not forget the tidbit about you living in Asia your whole life."

"I can pull it off," Cranky said, trying to convince himself and Ken at the same time.

"That's what I wanna hear. But I'm curious – you never struck me as a, well, legitimate business owner before. I mean you've grown up on the streets. You're a con expert."

"It's never too late to turn your life around. If I'm gonna be starting a new life with Cammy, I want to do it with a clean slate. No more conning, no more cheating and lying. I want to be someone she can depend on, and that means financially as well."

"Ah, you're doing this to impress her? Cranky, I've been with the girl, and I know what she's like. You already have her heart. There's nothing more you can do to prove yourself to her. You don't even need to. So if that's your motivation to start up your own business, I say forget about it."

"No, I'm doing it to impress myself. I'm about to start a new life. I don't want anything from my past tainting it. I'll earn enough money to get myself a decent apartment, maybe even a house for Cammy and myself later on and save some extra cash on the side and put Kenny through school."

"Whoa …" Ken was speechless. "That's, um … quite a plan you got for yourself."

"It'll be tough but hey, it's about time I set things straight."

"You know, there might not be much I can do about your finances, but you know Eliza and I have you covered for Kenny's tuition."

"I appreciate it, Masters, I really do. But you've done a lot for him as is. I'd like to take over from here, if it's okay with you."

"Fine, I'll let you take the helm from here on out. But on one condition."

"… I don't know. Let's hear your terms."

"You let me lend you the money to get the pub started, interest free. Take as long as you need to pay me back."

"Ken, I …" Now it was Cranky's turn to be speechless. "I can't. That's too much to expect."

"Those are my terms, Crankurt. It's better than taking a line of credit out from the bank, assuming your London Irish pub doesn't work out. You'd spend the rest of your life paying off interest. And then how do you expect to invest in a house for you and Cammy, and put Kenny through school?"

"I …" Cranky looked for the right words to express his gratitude, but even the ones he settled on didn't seem adequate. "I really, _really_ appreciate this, Masters."

**XXXXX**

Luwanda stood with the other servants in an open courtyard to what appeared to be a Thai Buddhist temple. A large square area of ground was paved in tile and it was around the edges of this tiled area that the servants stood, watching the large, stealth aircraft land, its deafening engines shooting out blue fire from the base of the aircraft, softening its landing. The force of the engines picked up the dried leave and twigs scattered over the floor, tossing them into the air like a miniature windstorm. Monks and servants alike held onto their traditional robes, preventing them from blowing up, revealing inappropriate body parts.

The aircraft descended like a large metallic bird, the screams of the dying engines serving as its powerful cry. A staircase unfolded from the bottom of the plane, clanking loudly as it came into contact with the ground. Though the engines had been killed, they continued whirring until they came to a full and complete rest. While this was happening, a caped figure stepped out from the plane, dressed in a red suit with chrome armor plating. There was no mistaking who the figure was.

Luwanda felt her heart stop for a moment, fearful that the pupil-less eyes of M. Bison would spot her out of the crowd, recognizing her as a spy planted by Delta Red, even though she knew it was impossible as Bison had never seen her before, and this was the first time she'd ever seen him in person.

Bison walked down the stairs slowly with pronounced footsteps, his magnificent black cape floating in an unseen breeze behind him. The mere sight of the man demanded such respect, that it seemed as if his mere presence had ordered the monks and servants to bow to him. And they did so in unison, pressing their foreheads to the ground as if he were some god. Not wanting to stand out from the crowd, Luwanda mimicked their actions, mentally scolding herself for lowering herself to a man with the likes of M. Bison.

"Sawadeekap" the group said in unison, a Thai greeting.

She lifted her head just a little bit, trying to get a better view of Bison, and who else might have been accompanying him. Wolfman had given her orders to be on the lookout for a Shadowlaw scientist who had recently gone missing and described her as being a Chinese woman of shorter stature, built thin, but well toned. Apparently, Shadowlaw placed an importance on looks even with their scientists.

Bison was shadowed by a much larger man than he, a mammoth of a man standing over seven feet tall. The guy was bald and sported a patch over an eye. Even beneath the business suit the man wore, Luwanda could tell the suit was custom made for him not just for someone of his proportions, but for someone of his build with arms two thirds the thickness of her waist, and legs the size of tree trunks.

Behind the pair marched the girl Luwanda believed she was looking for. The top of the woman's head was level with the large man's bicep, not even reaching up to his shoulder. She had fair, almost porcelain skin free of blemishes. Her narrow eyes emphasized high, attractive cheekbones, beside which black silky hair fell. Wolfman was right. She was a beautiful woman, like an Emperor's exotic concubine – in a lab coat. Her gaze was downcast, not looking farther ahead than the ground a few inches beyond the tips of her white high heeled shoes that clicked with every step she took.

The threesome walked between rows of servants without acknowledging their presence, heading towards the temple entrance. Well, the place looked like a temple, sure enough, but was actually an entrance to a much larger Shadowlaw base reached through a series of underground tunnels and elevators where Luwanda worked.

She Katarina approached, the scientist's low gaze almost met with Luwanda's as she looked upwards to get a better picture of her. Luwanda noticed the puffiness around the woman's eyes, the running mascara like she'd been crying. She saw the red marks on Katarina's face, as if she'd been slapped around a few times. The lower half of her lab coat sported dried stains of a variety of bodily fluid that had been unsuccessfully cleaned off. Blood, urine, and … semen, maybe?

The woman Luwanda believed to be Katarina didn't even meet her gaze, just kept it focused at the ground in front of her feet and continued onward, disappearing into the temple entrance behind Bison and his monstrous bodyguard. It wasn't until the three of them had fully disappeared from view that Luwanda and her coworkers lifted their foreheads from the ground and carried about their businesses. She frowned in disgust as she felt grains of sand embedded into her skin, clammy and greasy from the humid heat.

Luwanda dashed off towards the compound in the same direction she'd seen Bison head for. She had to get to a phone quickly, before the mental snapshot of Katarina faded. She had to make sure she had the right girl. She'd made the Colonel wait long enough for her report and she didn't want him to wait a second longer than necessary.

**XXXXX**

Kenny headed down the stairwell slowly, taking his time with every step. He would've taken the elevator down to Juli's suite under normal circumstances, but he needed some time to clear his head after what had happened in the last few minutes. He'd settled his differences with Cranky after their huge blowout that nearly turned physical. They came to the agreement that they were the most fucked up family on the face of the earth; a pair of orphans who adopted each other as siblings, one a womanizing drunk in his mid-twenties, the other a "selfish, lazy, disrespectful, chain smoking teenager."

But it was those very flaws in both their individual personalities maintained bond they shared, since it was established as children. That was what made Cranky play such a unique role in Kenny's life; a role that Kenny wasn't sure would remain filled for much longer. At the end of the tournament, once everyone went home to their families, Kenny would be on his own again. Nothing would have changed. The longing for loved ones, for people to be there for him in times of need, the envy he harbored for others his own age, all of those negative emotions would once again rise to the surface. And to think he'd left that all behind after Cranky came back and brought with him the people Kenny once knew all those years ago.

And back then, Street Fighter tournament or not, it didn't matter what happened to the warriors. Once they headed home, Kenny could continue living on the streets while he and Cranky terrorized pedestrians with their pick pocketing, scramble with rival gangs for scraps of food, find huge, discarded refrigerator boxes and outfit them with the warmest newspapers. Life was hard back then, now that he thought about it. But it didn't seem that way. Struggling to survive brought out the nastiest outlooks on and of humanity, let alone doing it on the streets. But because Kenny and Cranky had each other, Kenny didn't remember things being that bad.

Kenny wished he could have the old times back. But things changed and they still continued changing. He was fifteen now and with age came responsibilities. He knew how to control the monthly allowance that Ken Masters provided him with. He knew how to access his bank account from ATMs from different banks with one card. He knew how to live on his own, to take care of his place and clean up after himself. Cranky, on the other hand, had made an even more drastic change. Comparing him now to what Kenny remembered from the earliest of his memories, Cranky had turned from a companion, his best friend, a role model he use to emulate and into a strange kind of parental figure too bogged down with reality to be any fun anymore, into … a grownup. And suddenly, the ten year age gap seemed a lot wider than it was when they were younger.

It was as if Kenny was meant to spend his life by himself. Everyone he had grown to care about in his life had been taken away – the move from Tokyo to the United States, the Angel Grove massacres, the Raccoon City biohazard outbreak, the Street Fighter tournaments, all of them had resulted in the loss of his friends. Friends; the only people that mattered to him for he had no family to fall back on. Now, Cranky, the only family he had was being taken away too. As much as Kenny talked about being capable by himself, the even harsher truth was that he didn't want it. He knew that well. If there was one thing in his life he was sure of, that was it. But he knew he'd never admit it to anyone else. Not Ryu, not Uncle Ken or Aunt Eliza, not Auntie Cammy, not even Cranky.

"Where the hell were you?"

Kenny snapped out of his daze, surprised that he'd already reached Juli's suite. Wagner sat outside her closed door, elbows resting on his knees.

"You said you'd be in there," he continued, pointing at the closed door across from where he sat. "Way to ditch me with Cammy, and now they're … are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Kenny replied, a little more aggressive than he'd intended. "Where's Juli? Why are you sitting out here?"

"She's in there with Cammy," Wagner replied, pointing to the door he sat beside. "They're talking about … Christ, I don't even know. She's calming Juli down I guess, trying to talk her through her problems."

"Great job sticking to the plan."

"Hey," Wagner warned, pointing a finger at him, "it wasn't like I left her alone knowing she was emotionally unstable."

"Suicidal, Wagner," Kenny corrected, "and yes, you did. We both did."

"Where'd you go?" Wagner asked. "You said you'd be up here, but when Cammy and I arrived, you weren't."

"I had to kidnap Cranky for a bit, straighten some things out with him."

"What's going on between you two?"

"Nine years of catching up," Kenny replied, "and to drive it into his head what an asshole he is."

"Ouch," Wagner winced, "you're the only person I know who can do that and walk away in once piece."

"I nearly didn't," Kenny said, motioning to a reddening patch of skin on his cheek. "Besides, he had some colorful things to say about me. It was a fair trade off."

"That's why you look like shit."

"Thanks."

**XXXXX**

The match started with the crash of the cage walls slamming onto the fighting arena, now in Madrid, Spain. This was the strangest bar Ken Masters had ever seen, combining both rowdy and classy into one unified setting. Patrons yelled at each other, though Ken wasn't convinced they were in verbal disagreement, holding up beer glasses topped with frothy foam spilling over the edges, clashing glasses and laughing loudly. There were two centers of attraction in this bar. On the stage sat an old piano made of old, uncoated brown wood that had begun rotting in areas. Decrepit as it might have appeared, the instrument delivered its music beautifully, with the help of the pianist running his fingers across the ivory keys in a series of complex chords and notes. Beside the pianist, sitting on a stool was a guitarist, picking at the strings of his instrument of choice with such refinement in skill, such talent, with his calloused fingers. Around the musicians danced a pair of wide eyed, dark skinned girls, thick dark hair pulled into tight buns behind their necks. The hems of flowery yellow dresses twirled around their ankles as they danced to the music.

Distractions abound, Ken cleared his head and focused on his immediate surroundings as he stretched, like he always did before a match; he was surrounded by a chain link fence, dirty tile floors and a square shaped fighting surface. He frowned at the fence, taking note of their potential hindrance to his movement. He had to be careful to move about, delivering strikes hard enough to knock out, but with not too much force that could throw his body into the fence. With his bare feet, he felt the ground. It was a little grimy but wouldn't serve much of a problem for traction – just as long as he managed to keep his feet dry, there'd be no slippage.

The attack came before any sign of the fight commencing could be announced. It came as a painful slash across Ken's left shoulder. He would've taken it in the chest, had Ken not noticed the blur of silver-tinged … something – coming at him and dodged just in time. His shoulder screamed bloody murder; a hot, stinging pain followed by a comforting warmth – blood, coating his arm. Ken grasped his wound, feeling the hot blood seep through his fingertips and cursed through clenched teeth.

"The only form of beauty capable of coming from a creature like you," a voice said coldly. But Ken needed no introduction to the speaker. He whirled around and came face to face with his attacker – the masked Spanish matador, the second of Bison's bodyguard panel.

"Vega," he hissed. "I guess that's the only way you can win a fight, huh? When your opponent's not expecting an attack?"

"Shut up and hit me … if you can."

Ken threw his leg out – a perfectly timed kicked aimed at Vega's shin, hoping to knock out his leg from under him, but Vega performed a backwards somersault, his braid nearly smacking Ken in the nose. Ken let out a breath, fueled by disappointment but he knew that's how Vega fought. Wear the opponent out first by playing runaway, and once he gets tired, come in for the finishing strike.

That was a tactic that had served him well. Vega was quite the escape artist, but only in a confrontational situation. His body was lean and long, allowing swift movements without a lot of bulk getting in the way. Ken on the other hand wasn't quite so lean. He was quick in battle, but most of his damage he could deal was strength based; an attribute he knew Vega lacked. Ken's speed was remarkable in fact, though it could only come when the timing was right, when he was sure the opponent would not be able to escape his strike. He had to let Vega come at him. Playing the offensive with someone of his opponents speed would not end the battle in his favor.

Quick as lighting Vega leapt off the fence. Ken hadn't even noticed him scale it. Vega came down with a mighty cry – again, just a blur of metal and skin tones and fell towards him, directly above his head.

"Shinryuuken!" Ken cried, pushing himself vertically into the air with an extended fist, spiraling upwards in a furious aerial uppercut. This was not a retaliation the matador had been expecting. A kind of sadistic pleasure erupted in Ken as he felt his fist batter his opponent's body. This wasn't an ordinary opponent for him. This was a man who had caused Cammy an insufferable amount of pain, a man with a sick, twisted sense of beauty. This man toyed with women, tricked Katarina with a false sense of love and lured her into resurrecting him.

Ken thought of his love, of Eliza, and how she would fare in his hands, the kind of value Vega would have towards her – nothing more than a pretty body and face only for him to use. That was how Vega saw Cammy and the other dolls and back then, he loved Cammy as much as he loved Eliza now.

Vega crashed painfully into the ground, taking some bits of tile with his broken body. Ken couldn't help smiling as he landed. There was no going easy on this guy. Ken tucked his body into a roll before Vega could even hope to get up, and performed a roundhouse kick, just another hit to add that bit of extra damage. But with inhuman reflexes, Vega forced himself into a sitting position as Ken approached, grabbed his foot, and twisted.

Ken spun his body with his foot, to avoid any damage, realizing in horror that it was Vega who now controlled him. Trying to break free from the hold, Ken kicked his other foot into Vega's face, or more specifically into the man's mask, and could've sworn he felt something break. That loosened the hold on his foot and immediately, Vega began howling.

"My face!"

Ken wasted no time, throwing himself on Vega while he clutched the at the broken mask, still attached to his face, and threw punch after punch, each time denting the material a little more, watching the blood and spittle fly from Vega's mouth, now visible that the lower half of the mask had broken off.

Ken then remembered what Cranky had told him about the rumors about the Shadow Technology.

Remembering this, Ken didn't let himself get too comfortable and backed off, decided it would benefit him to watch Vega howl about in pain, or come at him with another attack. Either way, it would reveal how he operated in battle, reveal how strongly the technology worked inside him, or if he'd even been implanted with it or not.

"You'll pay for this, you monster!" Vega shrieked, lunging at Ken with his claw outstretched. Ken dodged again, performed a snap kick, detaching the claw from Vega's arm. It wasn't until the weapon was clearly out of range when he realized he could've easily sliced his foot off on the thing, and decided it was in his best interest to not be so reckless the next time around.

Vega's claw was gone, and the mask hung on his face in shards. For someone rumored to be hosting the Shadow Technology, Vega had been pretty easy to handle this whole time. Did he have some reserve of energy just waiting to be unleashed? Or was the information leaked to cause unease among the street fighters? He'd find out soon enough.

**XXXXX**

Kenny and Wagner had remained faithfully outside of Juli's suite, waiting for whatever talk she was having with Cammy to end. Kenny had wanted to shout at Wagner, put the man in his place for going back on his word. Wagner expected him to remain with Juli, to keep her company and make sure she wouldn't try anything, more specifically, killing herself, and faulted Kenny for not sticking to the plan. And here Wagner was letting Cammy monopolize their contact with Juli. The double standard was infuriating. What kind of youth counselor was Wagner, anyway?

But Kenny had been too drained of energy from his previous verbal brawl with Cranky to make any mention of his frustration. He had his own issues to deal with, like how he was going to survive after the tournament ended. Not physically – Uncle Ken would continue providing him with the funds that would allow him to keep his home and buy food – but emotionally. He wondered how the thought of having everyone torn away from him would affect him this time. As used as he was to living on his own, he didn't want to go through it again.

"Something on your mind?" Wagner's voice broke his thoughts.

"It's nothing," Kenny replied, waving him off. "Just waiting for Cammy to get out of there so we can leave."

"I was wondering if it'd be okay with you if I could stay with Juli after this," Wagner requested.

Kenny gave him a bewildered look. "Why?"

Because she was beautiful. "I just want to make sure she's going to be okay."

"You don't trust your sister?"

"It's not that …"

"Right, because you DID let Cammy in on this whole thing after all. So much for nobody finding out about this." Kenny had to stop himself. He was starting to rant, and it could only get uglier from here.

"Did you mention this to Cranky?"

"That's a different story."

"HAH! Don't go pointing fingers!"

"Well if you hadn't gone and fucked things up …"

"Well they're as fucked up as they're gonna get so why not take it all the way!"

"Do you want to fuck Juli?" Kenny suddenly asked.

Shit. He was good. NO! What was Wagner thinking? He wanted nothing of the sort! He legitimately cared about her. But since when did someone get so personally involved with another he's only known for twelve hours? He'd been personally involved with the kids he counseled but that bond was only formed after sitting down with them for hours and hearing their issues. Juli was someone else. Juli was …

"Cause you know, that might piss Cranky off. Especially taking advantage of her when she's in such a vulnerable state."

"Kenny, I don't …"

"Well, whatever opens your can – or your legs in this case, haha. I won't tell Cranky. But knowing how well you've kept your promises, don't fault me if I can't keep mine." Wagner started going red in the face, and Kenny loved every moment of it, as a childish grin spread on his face. The kid could read him like a book, something nobody aside from Guile and maybe Cammy had been able to do.

"Man, when you get a girlfriend," Wagner began, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the grin on Kenny's face vanished, and he looked down at the floor sadly.

"She …" he said, finding the right words. "She died in Raccoon City."

"Oh …" Wagner stopped. An awkward silence ensued, and he kicked himself for being so stupid. Of course, Kenny had just come from Raccoon City three months prior to the Street Fighter tournaments. He heard stories of an outbreak of pandemic proportions where an entire population had been wiped off the map – literally, after government officials sent missiles into the heart of that American mountain community. He couldn't even grasp the severity of the situation. And Kenny, against all odds, had survived unscathed. Cranky had gone in there after Kenny, from a lead provided by Cammy, but the brothers remained tight lipped about their encounters in the city.

The moment of silence was thankfully broken by footsteps, catching their attention. Wagner and Kenny looked up from their sitting position, and saw the forms of Ryu and a much larger man approach them. They walked with shoulders squared, tight fisted, locked jawed. They were all business and neither Kenny nor Wagner could read the looks on their faces.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, Kenny," Ryu said. "Issei has something to say to you."

Kenny shot up to his feet, and Wagner scrambled to follow suit, alerted by Issei's presence. "What's gotten into you, Ryu?" he demanded. "How are you so sure we can trust this man?"

"He's not getting within a mile of me," Kenny said firmly. "Do you have any idea who this guy is?" Kenny pointed a finger towards Issei, who only looked back at him sadly. "Oh don't give me the fucking puppy dog face! It wasn't that long ago you were willing to put a bullet in my head. You're an Admiral of Shadowlaw's military. You're a damned murderer! You're …"

"Your brother," Ryu interrupted.

Kenny's words got stuck in his throat. "No."

"Regardless of familial ties," Wagner began, "it doesn't change the fact that …"

"What bullshit are you talking about, Wagner?" Kenny demanded. "You're not denying this? This 'sibling' crap? Who's side are you on?"

"I believe the facts," he replied

"NO!"

"It's the truth!" Ryu insisted. "Look at his face. Look at your own!"

Kenny looked at Issei straight in the eye, at first with hatred. But there was something familiar in them. The small eyes, pronounced cheekbones, the lobe-less ears and the black hair … The only difference Kenny could make out was that where his face was round, Issei was square-jawed. And if what Wagner and Ryu claimed were true, and Issei really was a sibling, that meant he and Katarina, the crazy bitch who attacked him and Cammy back at the ward were …

"We just wanted to bid you farewell," Ryu said.

Kenny immediately went from denial to acceptance, and was surprised at how willing he was to accept this news at the mere thought of more people walking into his life briefly, and having them walk out just like that. "Where are you going?" he asked, the firmness in his voice subsiding.

"Thailand," Ryu replied. "Luwanda's just given confirmation through Colonel Wolfman. Katarina's being held hostage by Shadowlaw. They want the twins back – both of them. We're going on a rescue mission and it's very dangerous. Not to mention I'm scheduled for a match with Sagat and Bison, if all goes well with Ken's plan. So Kenny, at least let Issei say goodbye."

The larger man who stood behind Ryu now walked towards Kenny, unsure of how to approach him. The youth, likewise, looked back uncertainly, and impulsively took a step back. His eyes shot a look to Ryu, who nodded his approval. It was okay. Kenny felt sickened when Issei put a hand on his shoulder. His stomach churned and threatened to spill its contents. He could've sworn he felt his face turn green.

"I'm sorry," Issei said simply. But his tone was gentle, weak, almost, but genuine. "Sorry that it to begin the way it did. And sorry it'll end like this." Kenny chewed on his lower lip, afraid that he might react out of instinct – the instinct that told him so sock the guy in the nose and run for his life. Issei continued. "If all ends well, Katarina and I will come back for you. We'll make up for lost times. It's over with Shadowlaw."

And then Cranky's words. "_When it comes down to it, you're my little bro and I love you even if you are the most aggravating little brat I've ever come across."_


	34. Chapter 29: Coming Together

As Cranky headed down to Juli's suite via the elevator, his heart thumped in his chest, hoping he wouldn't have to run into her, though it was unavoidable. Kenny and Cammy were waiting for him down there. The guilt of having Juli try to kill herself over him was unbearable. But he was so desperate to leave the past as it was, he'd decided it was better off for her if he'd completely vanished from her life. At least it would make it that much easier for her, without him there to complicate things. He hoped whatever it was Kenny and Wagner had planned, that they had her taken care of. It was irresponsible for Cranky to rely on others to clean up his mistake, but again, it was better for Juli. Better for him and Cammy.

Cranky thought about what Wagner and Julian had told him the night all three of them went to the bar together (the same night he had decided on opening up a bar of his own.) They'd tried to encourage him to shed the overprotective impulses over the people he cared about, an impulse Cranky never really took notice of in the past. But upon hearing what they had to say, he realized they had a point. He put himself in Cammy's shoes, wondering how he would react to the one responsible for taking away someone he cared about. Well, all those years ago, it was Ryu who had taken Kenny away, and Cranky still held a small grudge against Ryu, though it was nowhere near the kind of suffering Bison and Vega had put Cammy through. Then he thought about Kenny, who had lived independently and suffered his share of bullshit, and learned to take care of himself and enjoy the freedom he'd earned because of it. Cranky imagined that freedom abruptly robbed from him, by a complete stranger, no less, and realized that Kenny had kept it together far better than Cranky would have. Kenny had bit down, swallowed his pride and put his trust in Cranky.

Funny how he never realized it before. And it took a long lecture from Wagner and Julian, and fights with Cammy and Kenny to get the concept of letting go, and trusting those who trusted him to take care of themselves. It took all of that to drill it into his thick, short-tempered skull. And he only understood it now.

Now it was time to put this new understanding to work. Cammy was due in Bangkok – and hopefully not Madrid, tomorrow. She was scheduled for the battle of her life; a final, potentially life threatening feat that she had to accomplish before she could move on with her life, before she could move on with Cranky. All he had to do was wait for her. Just wait. Surely he could accomplish that much.

But as much as he wanted to continue on with Cammy, a part of him hesitated. Cranky didn't want to leave Kenny alone, not after he suffered for all those years not knowing whether he was dead or alive. Not after risking his life going into Raccoon City to pull Kenny out of that viral hellhole. True, they both had the skills to survive on their own, but nine years of separation was more than enough. Kenny was back in his life, and Cranky wouldn't let him get taken away anymore.

But yet, that was Kenny's point about him. Cranky didn't want to let go. When he had, Kenny was abruptly taken away. But this time, it was too late to make up for that mistake, given that Kenny was now a blooming teenager starving for independence. What was he to do? What would be the right thing to do? What would Mei have done? Well there was no way of knowing what Mei would have done, but he had a pretty clear idea of what she'd have said.

"Things aren't the same as they were," he told himself. "He's not six and you're not sixteen. We've grown up. Grown up." _Grown up … _That's right. Being physically apart didn't necessarily equate to separation, as long as they were in regular contact. What were they? Kids? It wasn't as if Cranky didn't trust Kenny to take care of himself. He knew he could. So that settled it then. Cranky was going to be okay no matter how things turned out. And he wasn't, he'd see to it that he would be … somehow.

He walked into the corridor where Juli's suite was located and the sight that greeted him made his vision go red with fury, but only for a second. Issei had his hand on Kenny's shoulder, trying to get on the teen's good side while Kenny leaned away with disgust. Wagner stood by looking shocked, and ready to pounce if the Shadowlaw Admiral tried anything funny. Ryu stood a few steps away observing the situation casually, with no emotion registering on his face.

"What the hell is going on here?" Cranky demanded.

"Saying goodbye," Issei replied, walking back towards Ryu.

"We were just explaining the current situation to Kenny and Wagner here," Ryu continued. "We're heading to Thailand for the final rounds with Bison and Sagat, and to get Katarina back."

"Shadowlaw has her?" Cranky asked.

"Yes, and it looks like they want both the twins back. Whether it's to fight for them or to torture them, we don't know. But we're not taking any chances. That's why I'm going with them."

**XXXXX**

Ken had made the mistake of forcing a Shadow Technology endowed Vega to take offensive action. He didn't know which was worse, wearing himself out trying to fight a quick striker, or trying to dodge one. Whatever the case, this was what he ended up with; a crazy effeminate man who loved himself more than he did women, armed with a twisted sense of beauty not just in a person, but in their blood. And Ken was seeing plenty of blood that night, most of it his own as he dodged and parried Vega's strikes. The painful slashes didn't come from his trademark claw, however. The weapon had since been kicked from his arm, and Ken could have easily lost his foot in the process. The painful bleeding cuts all over Ken's chest and arms were caused by Vega's cat like claws. And he had only withdrawn them after Ken planted knee strike after knee strike to his precious face.

That was what got the Shadow Technology to kick in – except Vega had allowed it to. Whatever improvements had been made to the work, the user now had more control over it, and Vega used it to his advantage. He hadn't stopped screaming, slashing and kicking in the last two minutes now. It was a short period of time taking the big picture into consideration. But in the small time frame of a quick paced fight such as this, it'd felt like hours, and Ken was beginning to lose his breath. Vega, on the other hand, seemed to be warming up.

"Come on, pretty boy!" Ken taunted. "Anyone ever tell you that you fight like a girl?" It took every ounce of strength in Ken to make sure his speech didn't sound labored in any way. He couldn't afford to show any sign of weakness, not now when Vega was getting all worked up. But who knew how long the Shadow Technology could improve his endurance?

"You've ruined my precious face!" Vega screeched, tucking his body into a ball. He rolled across the floor with a high pitched war cry and finished the final roll with a punch. Good thing the claw hadn't been attached at this point or it would've sliced Ken's lower leg off. "How dare you lay your filthy hands on such perfection!"

Ken jumped away, putting enough distance between him and Vega for retaliation attack of his own. He threw his open palms out and forward, releasing a concentrated ball of chi from them. "Hadouken!"

Vega took the projectile attack to the chest but it didn't slow him down. He continued running for Ken, the look of hate burning vigorously through his mascara smeared lashes. Ken took only a split second to gawk in surprise at how well Vega absorbed the attack. A split second it was, but it had been a split second too long as Vega elbowed him in the face, pulled back, and punched him in the jaw with the same arm. Ken stumbled backwards, clutching his face.

"You destroyed mine! Now I will rip yours apart with my teeth!"

"Shippu!" Ken pulled his foot back, and kicked it out with lighting precision to the back of Vega's knee. The blows to his head had disoriented him, and his arms were nearly out of commission having been slashed for more than he could handle. Not to mention the blood loss he suffered was starting to take a toll on his balance. He could no longer afford to doddle. It was now or never – before he lost complete consciousness in the ring.

Ken followed the kick with another, spinning around and kicked out again. With every successful kick, he spun faster and faster, until his leg appeared as a mere blur of red. "Jinrai!" The momentum with which he moved picked his body up from the ground, and Vega along with him, like a human cyclone of sorts until a the peak of the move, at which he performed an overhead axe kick, connecting first with Vega's bruised, broken face, and then the top of the matador's face, sending him spiraling towards the ground, and into the peaceful void of unconsciousness.

Ken's last thought before blacking out from blood loss and exhaustion was Vega, of all people, guilty of all the sins he'd committed against humanity with or without Shadowlaw, did not deserve that kind of peace.

**XXXXX**

When Chun Li had found out she was skipping both the first two rounds against Bison's bodyguard panel, it was as if something reached into her lungs and took the air right out of them. Dizzy and weak with excitement, she felt the sudden need to sit down. Only she was already sitting down, or more like crushed into her seat at ten thousand feet in the air. The blood rushed into her limbs suddenly, flushing her face. It was cold at this altitude but Chun Li suddenly felt like she didn't need the blanket anymore and took it off. She tried to calm down – watch a movie on the flight, read the magazines that she'd browsed over more times than she could've counted already.

Try as she might to distract herself, so that the flight wouldn't seem as long, nothing worked. One question kept repeating itself in her mind. What the hell was going on in the tournament circuit? The first thing she knew, she was headed off to Vegas, only to find out that her opponent had been disqualified from the tournament. The tournament official there explained to her that she'd be skipping the Las Vegas battle and that she was being redirected straight to the second round in Madrid. Upon landing at the airport, she was immediately redirected a second time to take the next transfer flight to Bangkok. Ken's plan was working better than she had expected it to. She had to give the guy some credit – he was no longer that headstrong young man she'd met in the Alpha tournaments all those years ago. Though his heart still motivated him, he was now thinking with his head.

She breathed a sigh of relief and let herself sink into her seat. The hard part was almost over with now. They just had to take out the remaining bodyguard and then Bison – her goal after all this time. It was becoming a reality. Chun Li knew the other warriors wanted a piece of the evil dictator too, but she was going to make sure she got the biggest piece. With Kenny no longer missing and safe back in Osaka, Chun Li could refocus her mind from the missing child who had become a teenager, and to avenging her father's death. She thought briefly about Katarina and Aaron Feng, Shadowlaw's wonder twins who now seemed to be turning over a new leaf. She wondered if they'd be able to get the scientist back and give her a second chance at life.

"Of course we can," she told herself. "All we have to do is destroy Bison and everything will turn out as it should be."

The seatbelt sign turned on with a pleasant ding, catching Chun Li's attention. The pilot's voice came over the intercom system.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen," he said in a calm, professional manner, "we should be arriving at the Bangkok International Airport in approximately forty-five minutes. We are beginning our descent at this time and are expecting some minor turbulence. Please keep your seatbelt fastened at all times. We ask that you please keep your trays and seats in the upright position and thank you for your co-operation."

Chun Li looked out the window and saw huge erratic island formations – lush green tropical vegetation giving vibrant color to the otherwise earth-toned slabs of rock jutting out of the deep blue ocean waters. Welcome to Thailand.

**XXXXX**

The plan that Ken Masters had concocted was working so well, its effects were being felt throughout the entire Street Fighter circuit. The remaining fighters who had yet to do battle with the bodyguard panel were all being directed to the final rounds. Vega and Balrog had simply been taken out. The third and final bodyguard scheduled to face the warriors was indeed Sagat, as Ryu had expected. It was a fateful battle for both warriors. For Sagat, it was a chance to redeem his title as the Muay Thai champion. For Ryu, it was to determine whether or not he had won through skill and endurance, or if had just been sheer luck. He was going to find out soon.

Issei sat beside Ryu in the back seat of the rental car, staring with a blank expression out the window, watching random vehicles pass behind them from Cranky's crazy driving. Cammy was positioned on Ryu's opposite side while Kenny had shotgun. Under normal circumstances, Kenny would've been in the back with Cammy in front, but she understood that the youth was quite a bit uncomfortable around Issei. First impressions hadn't been the best.

The car ride was spent mostly in silence. There was nothing to talk about that could potentially end in an argument. And right before such a series of important matches, nobody wanted to leave on a bad note. Kenny was just coming to terms with the fact that Issei and Katarina were his blood relatives, something he'd been wishing for his whole life living on his own. Yet the very family he'd always wanted worked for Shadowlaw. It didn't comfort him to know that one of his only surviving family members was a monster sitting in the back seat.

Cranky had separate issues of his own, not wanting Cammy to leave for her fight. Despite coming to the conclusion that Cammy deserved this more than anything in the world, his heart still grappled with his brain. He would lose Cammy temporarily and if she came back – no – WHEN she came back, he would lose Kenny. His multitudes of options always led to losing people he cared about.

Cammy was busy trying to figure out what was going through Cranky's head. She knew what he thought about her going to the final rounds in general, but there was no telling what was going on right now. She'd try to casually study his face from the various reflections in the windows and rear view mirror. But his facial expressions remained blank and silent, hiding anything he might be feeling at this point. After a few minutes of fruitless thinking, Cammy decided it was best to give up and enjoy the ride. Besides, she didn't want to risk stirring shit up again. Oh, how things would be so simple if he was as supportive of her as Kenny was.

Kenny understood what Cammy was feeling. He sympathized with her need to get Bison and she was willing to bet if he had the opportunity she did, he wouldn't let Cranky get in his way to tear Bison apart either. Upon finding out Cammy had been accepted to the final rounds, Kenny had leapt with joy right along with Cammy, the pair of them linking arms, dancing around the living room like kids. Kenny had been screwed around with by Shadowlaw, just as she had. Even worse, it was his own father, a Shadowlaw scientist, who'd brought despair and death to his family. It was the bullshit the both of them had been through, that understanding of ruined lives and opportunities that strengthened the bond between them; a bond that didn't take very long to solidify. Cammy was the pride of joy of the Doll Program at fourteen. Kenny was the first revolutionary Shadow Soldier at six. The suffering that came along with those roles needn't be mentioned between them. It was all in the eyes; a look of exhaustion they recognized in each other. He was fifteen. She was twenty-five. Both of them were so young, and already so tired of life.

The first words spoken between the five of them since leaving for the trip to the airport came at the departure gate. There was no luggage to be loaded onto the aircraft. Ryu, living his life as a hermit had long ago grown accustomed to traveling light. Cammy had treated her tournament exploits as another mission, bringing only her battle gear with her in a duffel bag. She had since checked out of her hotel suite, and Ryu out of his. Cammy, Ryu and Issei stood in front of the passport inspector while Cranky and Kenny remained a few feet behind. Before taking the final few steps, the travelers took this moment to exchange their final goodbyes.

Ryu placed a comforting hand on Kenny's shoulder and spoke reassuring words to the youth. "It's almost over," he said gently, but with determination. "You've been brave in the face of Shadowlaw and the threat they pose. What started since before you were born is now coming to an end. And you will soon be able to live your life without looking over your shoulder. We all will."

"Be safe, Ryu," Kenny replied, hugging Ryu back tightly. "Thanks for everything you've done for me."

Ryu ruffled the youth's hair affectionately and stepped away. "He's an unbelievable kid, Cranky. Take good care of him."

Cranky looked up at Ryu from his tight embrace with Cammy. "You don't have to tell me twice, Ryu. I won't let anything happen to him. Look out for Cammy for me."

"We'll be backing each other up," Cammy assured him. She began to pull away from Cranky but her arms weren't cooperating, remaining wrapped around Cranky's waist. She whispered into his ear. "If everything goes according to plan, I'll be one saving his ass from Bison," she half-joked.

"And when you come back to me, you can tell me all about it," he whispered back, and pulled Cammy into a deep kiss. Ryu and Issei stared awkwardly at each other while Kenny rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently on the ground.

After a few long, tense moments, after the two of them showed no signs of letting go of each other, Kenny finally stepped in and pried the two of them apart. "Enough," he said, annoyed. "It's my turn to say goodbye now."

That gave her enough incentive to part with Cranky. Cammy threw her arms around Kenny's shoulders and squeezed him tightly. "Keep him in line," she said, "and out of other women's pants for me."

"I will," Kenny promised, "as long as you keep your word and come back to Cranky. He'll never admit it, but I know – the big oaf can't live without you."

"Or you," Cammy said, brushing a lock of Kenny's hair from his eyes. "This fight with Bison – I'm not just doing it for me, Kenny. I'm doing it for us, for me and Cranky. But more importantly, for people like you, me, Juli, Katarina, Issei, Chun Li, Wagner, Julian, your Uncle Ken … everyone who's lives have been ruined by Shadowlaw."

"While I get to sit on the sidelines," Kenny noted with a touch of regret.

"I'd have it no other way," she said.

Kenny felt a strange warmth in his heart, when had these words been from anybody else, he'd have grown bitter with envy and resentment. It was the way she said it to him like she genuinely cared about his well being. She was resolute in her decision but gentle with her words, almost like … like … a mother, one might say?

Then there was Issei, looking uncomfortable standing amidst the emotional goodbyes. He looked sorrowfully at Kenny, wishing he could've gotten to know his lost brother under different circumstances. Cranky reactively threw an arm around Kenny's shoulders and pulled him to his side.

"I hope you find Katarina," Cranky said to Issei. "I'll be praying for her safety."

"If she's truly Dr. Feng's daughter," Kenny said, aiming to give the ex-Shadowlaw Admiral some hope, "she won't let some sick fuck like Bison defeat her. We didn't, right, Issei?" The battle-hardened soldier said nothing in reply, but a wide smile crossed his sharp features, and he nodded in full agreement.

The three of them turned around and walked towards the departure gates. Kenny and Cranky remained where they stood, watching their friends until their forms shrank into mere shadows and turned a corner, disappearing from view. Kenny felt a sharp squeeze on his shoulder. Looking up at Cranky sullen face, he could see a trail of salty tears falling from the corners of his eyes. It was excruciating for him, but he was starting to learn. Learning to let go …


	35. Interlude: Remember When

They left the airport swiftly, without remaining behind much longer than necessary. Cammy and the others were gone now, on their way to fight a decisive battle. There was little Cranky and Kenny could do but pray for their success. It was evening by the time the plane had taken off, and the rental car had to be back at the service station before midnight. Glancing at his watch, Cranky determined they had approximately five hours before it had to be back in the lot – five hours left to kill.

They left Osaka's Kansai airport and drove over the bridge that connected the elaborate building to the mainland. As with the situation when they arrived, the departure was also spent mostly in silence, the brothers left to their own private thoughts. It was a wasted opportunity on Kenny for his mind was blank. So much had happened over the last few days, emotionally and physically, and he no longer had any energy reserves to waste on mere thought. He closed his eyes and felt the vibration of the car rolling along the pavement, and just enjoyed the ride for what it was worth. He hadn't intended to fall asleep, however.

Kenny was abruptly awoken by the vehicle pulling to a complete stop, as Cranky adjusted the emergency brake. Kenny was already beginning to open his eyes when he felt Cranky's hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. "Hey, wake up," he said, "there's something I'd like to show you."

Groggily, Kenny undid the seatbelt that fastened him to the passenger seat and opened the car door, breathing in the fresh evening air. That helped to wake him up a little more. He glanced around at his surroundings, surprised to find they were in the middle of downtown Osaka. Suddenly, the air didn't seem as fresh.

"Where are we?" he asked, although he could've guessed as much. He just wanted the confirmation.

"We're home," Cranky replied, smiling cleverly to himself.

"Um, no, my apartment is over…" Kenny began pointing down the street until he saw the alleyway. The familiarity of it all was astounding. Down a few blocks from the alleyway was a quaint café with bright red umbrellas, now tinged orange with the rays of the setting sun. The café patio was fenced off from the sidewalk by a steel railing, a fresh coat of black paint reflecting some of the sunlight. Directly beside the alley, on its opposite side was a brick wall that reached Kenny's chin. Beyond that, the grounds of the Osaka dome, the giant structure taking up most of his view.

Looking in as many different directions as he thought possible, Kenny's eyes were always drawn back to the alleyway, bits of garbage littering the cement floor, old, blackened and hardened pieces of gum staining the pavement in random patterns. Cardboard boxes were laid own in a somewhat orderly fashion along the walls as children crawled playfully in and out of them, speaking a roughened street dialect of Osaka Japanese.

Kenny stood rooted to the spot, taking the scene in. He saw the children, their small eyes looking up curiously beneath filth smeared faces at the two 'grown-ups' staring at them strangely. Then, they went about their games as if they had seen nothing. One of the occupied boxes shook, a body rustling the layers of newspapers inside, a sound that brought back memories Kenny had long since forgotten. Cranky rested an elbow on Kenny's shoulder.

"So much has changed," he said so quietly that only Kenny could hear him, "yet this place has stayed the same."

"That wall," Kenny continued, pointing to the brick wall that separated the alley from the Dome's grounds, "that used to be really high."

"You used to be really short."

"Something happened here," Kenny said, ignoring Cranky's comments. "You gave me a boost so over the wall. And … that's all I can remember."

"That was the last time I saw you for almost a decade," Cranky elaborated. "You were going to find some people to pick pocket so we could have dinner that night. It was the first day of the third consecutive Alpha tournaments began."

Kenny turned to look at Cranky questioningly. "I … I didn't come back, did I?"

"Come on," Cranky said, changing the subject, "lets get over to the café and grab a bite to eat. I'm starved."

**XXXXX**

It was getting dark quickly outside, and the cafe was packed with people. Kenny and Cranky stood in line waiting patiently for his turn. "You want anything?" he asked, Kenny.

"White chocolate chip cookie …" he replied, but Cranky interrupted.

"With macadamia nuts, a children's hot chocolate, no whip and lots of sprinkles," he finished.

"How did you …"

"Lucky guess," Cranky said, smiling smugly.

"Except I think I could go for something a little larger than kid's size, thanks."

And then it was their turn. Cranky came face to face with the smiling staff member, his small eyes squeezed into pencil thin lines. There was no missing the smile, even though it was hidden behind a thick, graying mustache of a short, rotund elderly man. He opened his mouth to give his schpeel he had given countless other customers earlier in the day.

"Ogyakusama irasshaima …" _Welcome honored guest …_

"O-hisashiburi da na, Ohgi-san" Cranky replied cheerfully. _It's been awhile, hasn't it, Mr. Ohgi?_

The rotund man's voice caught in his throat for a moment, his thin eyes suddenly widening in surprise with recognition. He pointed a stubby, shaky finger at Cranky. "Kimi wa … Cranky-kun deshou?" _You're … Cranky?_

He nodded enthusiastically. Mr. Ohgi yelped in surprise, his high pitched voice squeezing out from a tight throat. "Hontou ni ookiku natta yo na!" _Oh my gosh, you've grown! _ Mr. Ohgi then turned his attention to Kenny, another squeal of delight coming from him, nothing anyone would've expected an elderly man to produce. "Sore dewa kono kata wa …" _And this must be … _"Kimi no otouto?" _Your little brother?_

"Sugu ni toshiyori ni naru otouto da yo!" Cranky replied proudly, rubbing Kenny's hair. "_My little brother, who'll soon become an old fart before I know it!"_

"Kenny!" Mr. Ohgi cried. He left his post behind the counter and made his way around to get a good look at the teen.

Kenny looked at Cranky, fearful of the old man's aggressive affection. "Daijoubu da," Cranky said, assuring him. "Kodomo toki, Ohgi-san ga anta ga daisuki nanda." _It's alright. Mr. Ohgi was really fond of you when we were kids." _

"Demo, ano ojiisan no koto oboetenai zo!" Kenny protested. _But I don't remember that grandpa! _

"Matte mite." _Wait and see …_

Mr. Ohgi wrapped his fat arms around Kenny and nearly lifted the youth off his feet. "Hontou ni hisashiburi yo ne!" _It really has been a long time! _"Kawaii kodomo kara hansamu na otoko ni natta sou!" _Seems like you've grown from a cute kid to a handsome young man!"_

Kenny tried wrestling himself free from the old man's grasp, but wasn't successful until Mr. Ohgi himself had set the youth down. "Jaa, kimitachi no yomimono wo tsukuri ni iku yo! Kimi no ichiban suki na koohii mada oboeterun da yo!" _Alright, I'm gonna go get your drinks now. I still remember what your favorites are!"_

"Creepy old man," Kenny said quietly as soon as Mr. Ohgi had disappeared around the counter.

"You'll remember good ole Mr. Ohgi soon enough," Cranky explained. "We used to give us free stuff all the time, back in the day when I used to help him maintain the store."

"I thought you were a thief," Kenny said. "You taught me everything I know about pick pocketing."

"Mr. Ohgi doesn't have to know that," Cranky replied smugly. "But I'd never steal from him. He was always such a genuinely nice guy. I never had to ask for food from him. He'd come by the alley every night and give us the leftovers for the day. He could've gotten in trouble if the authorities ever found out he was contributing to our lives on the street by feeding us, but we never told anyone."

"Hmm, well you'd think if he was such a nice guy, I'd have some recollection of …"

"You like the white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies. He used to come by with the hot chocolate for you," then Cranky looked a little disapprovingly at Kenny, "when you were too young for coffee."

Mr. Ohgi deposited the beverages into their hands, smiling the whole time at the guests he hadn't seen in years. Along with the drinks, he shelled out a few packaged cookies, smiling happily at Cranky.

"I can't eat all that," Kenny said quietly, tugging at Cranky's shirt sleeve.

"What, you think these are all for you?" Cranky asked. "Take what you can, but the rest of them are for the other kids in the alley."

**XXXXX**

It was starting to get dark now, as the pair of them sat outside on the patio of the café, Kenny puffing away busily at his cigarette, while Cranky gulped his cooling drink. Kenny blew out the smoke and wiped at his face with an arm, brushing off the cookie crumbs in the process.

"Oh, thanks, Cranky!" he said, patting his stomach. "That was…" He half closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. "That was good. "

"You remember Mr. Ohgi now?"

"Meh," Kenny replied, dismissing the old man casually, "not really. But I won't be forgetting him this time! We've gotta come back here more often."

"He took good care of us," Cranky said. "Make sure you come by when you can and pay the old man a visit. I'll be right back." He got up from his chair and headed towards the alley they once called home, packets of cookies cradled in his arms. Kenny watched as Cranky stood by a group of children, intimidated by his size. He could've easily picked up the lot of them with one arm. Instead, he squatted down to their eye level and smiled, distributing the treats into their small, eager hands.

As he headed back to where Kenny sat, the youth looked up curiously at him. "Why'd you do that?"

Cranky looked back, bewildered as such a stupid question. "We were once in their shoes!"

"Yeah, you didn't see one of those little fuckers take the cash from your back pocket, did you?"

"What?" Cranky dug his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and felt for his money. "Those little …" Then he calmed down. "It was only a thousand yen anyway."

"Ten American dollars," Kenny reminded, calculating the value in his head.

"Whatever. They'll put it to use better than I ever could."

"You could've used it to by me a pack of smokes. I'm almost out."

"In which case, I'm glad they took it."

"Shamed by a bunch of little twerps," Kenny smiled, shaking his head. "You're losing your touch, grandpa."

Cranky shrugged off the comment and took another sip of his coffee. "I'm still glad I got a chance to come down here before leaving. I've been meaning to make the trip - with you - more specifically."

"Why the sudden trip down memory lane?" Kenny asked curiously.

"Because you don't remember everything," Cranky replied. "You've recalled a lot, and that's good. But I couldn't leave you not knowing everything about your past."

"But what's the point? It's all in the past. What's important is moving forward."

"Kenny," Cranky began, and then paused, taking a deep breath. God, there was so much to say but where could he even begin? "Things have changed so much since then, and they're about to change once again now that we're even older. You and I are entering different phases of our lives. I'm ready to move on, but you're not."

"Excuse me?"

"All those things you missed out on when you were living by yourself are catching up to you now that you have them. A family – people to look out for you. You've missed out on all of this while your peers took what they had for granted. Now that you have us, you want to catch up on lost times."

"I don't get what you mean …"

"That's why it's killing you that I'm moving to England to be with Cammy. You try your best to hide it. You might be able to fool her into believing everything is okay with you, but she hasn't known you for as long as I have. And that's why it's killing me that you're keeping all of this bullshit to yourself."

"Look, Cranky, it's all good. It's not like I'm incapable of …"

"There you go again."

"It's not my place, to say anything about how you choose to live your life," Kenny said weakly, "especially not after everything you've done for me."

"Kenny," Cranky placed his hand on his brother's shoulder. "We're family, right?"

The youth avoided eye contact, looking down at his knees, embarrassed that Cranky had been able to see right through him. Kenny thought he was doing a good job of figuring things out on his own, and was completely unaware of how transparent he appeared.

"Answer me," Cranky said sternly, but Kenny only nodded in response. "And that means we hide what from each other?"

"Nothing."

"That's right. And that also means we don't …"

"Leave each other behind."

"And that's my point here." Cranky removed his hand from Kenny's shoulder and clasped it in his other palm, resting his chin on his knuckles. "I am in love with Cammy. We're going to work on our relationship, and one day live with each other, and even have children together. But that doesn't … it does NOT mean we are leaving you behind. She's joining us, Kenny. She's joining this dysfunctional circus of street kids trying to turn their lives around. It's hard to believe anyone would want to, but we're lucky she's as fucked up as we are. And when you fall in love with a girl special enough to want to join us, she can jump onto our crazy bandwagon too. Do you understand me?"

"I never thought about it like that before."

"So swear it now. When I go back to England with Cammy, you're going to be okay." He held out his hand, but Kenny looked at it hesitantly. "Promise me, Kenny, or are you gonna make me spend the rest of my life with guilt?"

A smirk crossed Kenny's lips and he grasped Cranky's hand, shaking it firmly. "God, I swear you can be such an emotional sap at times. You're embarrassing me."

"Good," Cranky said, knuckling his head lightly.

"I'll be fine, Cranky. Just as long as you manage to keep Cammy on the bandwagon."


	36. Chapter 30: Satsui no Oni

A wall of hot, humid air hit the travelers as they stepped out of the airport and into the open air. The Thai climate was warm, humid and suffocating to those more accustomed to a cooler, drier climate. The only person affected by the alien atmosphere was Cammy, having lived in Western Europe and the States for most of her life. She began frantically waving her hand at her face and exhaled. Immediately, a coat of sweat had formed on her face and she looked to Ryu and Issei to see if they were experiencing the same discomfort she was. But if they were, they showed little signs of it.

All around them, arriving and departing passengers trudged, sweat dripping down their faces, with their family and friends helping to pull the heavy luggage. Of those fanning their faces to relieve themselves, the women would be waving their hands, causing their elbows to move too, not caring what passerby they might accidentally strike. The men were dabbing their faces with pocket handkerchiefs, The result was an unbearably warm, crowded space with hardly any room to move, ironically enough, at an airport. The road in front of the walkway sported rows upon rows of taxis, all of them waiting to take the weary travelers to their destinations. Every vehicle stood idle with their engines turned on, adding to the already intense heat.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ryu clapped a hand on Issei's shoulder. "Shadowlaw isn't an organization for one man alone to deal with. I have faith in your abilities but …"

"As you should," Issei replied, bowing his head modestly. "I hold a high position with the company. While the higher ups may know that I've turned my back on the organization, I know my subordinates are still loyal to me. We've been through far too much together."

"Do you know where to find Katarina?" Cammy asked, stepping to Ryu's side.

"No," he replied honestly. "But I can make my way around the Shadowlaw base with relative ease. I've been here many times in the past, mostly for training. In any case, I'm due to contact Luwanda later this evening. She's the one Wolfman planted in the base to keep an eye on things and had apparently spotted Katarina just the other day. I won't be going in until it gets dark."

"It doesn't sound like Luwanda or Delta Red to let you handle this by yourself," Cammy noted suspiciously, familiar with the ways her teammates worked. "They have just as much reason to bring down Shadowlaw as you, and I don't think any of them would settle for this being a solo mission."

"They don't know what I plan on doing," Issei replied simply, "they don't know what I can do, and I plan on keeping things that way."

"Well if you do planning on completing this mission on by yourself," Cammy continued, "assuming you manage to survive the scores of Shadowlaw guards, you'll still have to worry about an entire team of jealous Delta Red members. And frankly, I'd hate to be in your shoes." She smirked at the joke, acknowledging the half truth in her words. The expression was reflected in Issei's face.

"Come on, Cammy," Ryu said, taking her by the elbow, "we've got to get checked into the hostels in preparation for the fights. There's no time to train for them either."

"Got it," Cammy said, turning to him. She then refocused her attention on Issei. "Well then, best of luck to you. Don't get yourself killed, you hear? We're counting on you too."

"Loud and clear," Issei replied.

Cammy and Ryu headed for a parked taxi, while Issei took the one waiting directly behind it.

**XXXXX**

As Chun Li fell from the sky at bone-crushing speeds, only one thought occupied her mind. It wasn't the fact that she was on a collision course with the ground or that she would soon be in a world of physical pain. Nor was it the throbbing emanating through her face from a bruised cheekbone, or her brow that threatened to swell her eye shut. The thought running through her head had a much more profound impact than in the mere physical sense. Her body, with all the damage it had suffered, was threatening to shut down on her, completely destroying any opportunity to restore her honor, to avenge the death of her father at Shadowlaw's hands, and to rob her of the chance of having Bison's blood on her hands.

Chun Li steadfast in her determination to accomplish these goals she had set for herself, goals that would never let her live the rest of her life in peace had they not been met. And if things continued in the manner in which they were, they wouldn't be. Chun Li willed herself not to bite her lip and cry as she hit dirt, but she did from the jarring impact.

The final member of Bison's bodyguard panel stood victoriously over her fallen form, bathing her in his mammoth shadow. Sagat looked pitifully at her from his great height, though there was no indication of pride written on his face. She was just another bug who it was merely his job to crush. Sagat didn't seem to take any pleasure in his job. Everything was merely business. And the fact he didn't even think twice about engaging Chun Li in battle infuriated the Chinese detective. The man had no idea what it meant to her to make it to the final rounds. He didn't consider the torturous training under Master Gen to arm her with the skills she would need to make it in the Street Fighter tournaments. It didn't matter to him the kind of physical or mental agony she went through to get to where she was now and had merely swatted her away like a fly.

She stood slowly, her trembling legs threatening to give out under her and spill her back onto the ground. She commanded her hand to reach up to her face and wipe the trail o f blood dripping down her lip, but it felt like lead.

"No," she told herself, "not now. Not like this." Again, her body wasn't listening. It was like a separate entity doing as it pleased while her brain screamed at it to focus on the task at hand. But there was none of that now, not after Sagat had beaten the obedience out of her limbs, bruised her beyond recognition.

Sagat walked up to her and delivered a swift backhanded slap, throwing her back onto the ground. This time, she couldn't get up. The world was spinning while her entire body throbbed. "No, no, no!" she her brained screamed. But its protests went unheard as she fought against the darkness overtaking her consciousness.

"It isn't you I have a score to settle with," Sagat said without sympathy for her physical pain or her mental agony. "Give up now and save yourself. I don't want to have to kill you. There is no honor in destroying a lesser, undisciplined warrior."

"Undisciplined!" she nearly shrieked with rage, though it only came as a hoarse whisper.

"Hate," Sagat elaborated. "That's what fuels you. Otherwise you wouldn't be throwing caution to the wind, letting your heart take control over your head. That why you allow yourself to feel in battle. That's why you allow yourself to lose."

How dare this man accuse her of letting herself lose in battle? Above all things, this was not what she wanted! He was the one who put her in this state! He was the one who … kicked her ass. She suddenly felt small compared to Sagat, in more than just stature – the man was literally a giant at over seven feet tall and nearly three hundred pounds of bulging muscle. Now he was lecturing her on a warrior's mental state, or at least how one should feel in a fight, which according to Sagat, was nothing at all.

But how could Chun Li not feel anything with all that was at stake? She was well aware of what losing the tournament meant. Then she thought about it again, somehow, as she felt another wave of unconsciousness approaching. Maybe it was because she was so aware of everything outside the fight that she had allowed herself to lose in the first place. Maybe she wasn't in the appropriate frame of mind to win the battle. Sagat's words were starting to make some sense to her, which made her even angrier that she had been outsmarted by someone so evil to be in such an elevated position with Shadowlaw. The way he spoke was reminiscent of Ryu's own lectures given to her numerous times past.

The defeat had evoked an intolerable variety of emotions within her. Anger at her opponent, disappointment in herself, bitterness in lost opportunity, sadness that her father's death would never be avenged …

She let her dead drop to the ground and stared up at the blue sky, barely feeling the humid air against her clammy skin. She caught the tips of the row of palm trees to the right, and the toes of a giant reclining Buddha to the right. Her body still hurt, but the pain was lessening. A soft breeze blew through the grass she lay on, tickling her wounds, distracting her from the multiple bruises and fractures she endured. The odd mix of scene's serenity and her pain put her at ease. There would be no more torture. Sagat had finished, and he was letting her rest. The dying hope of her previously undying determination gave way to her weakness of her mortal being. Her one eye closed – the other had already swollen shut. Just a short nap, after which she could wake up and continue training and defeat Sagat in due time, and eventually make her way to Bison. This might have been a failed attempt. Yes, maybe she wasn't ready. But that didn't mean she never would be. She wouldn't give up in her quest. Chun Li could see her future unfolding before her eyes – crushing Sagat before moving on and literally ripping Bison's head from his shoulders. But that would come after a short nap. Just five minutes or so.

A distant voice called out to her in desperation. But she ignored it and went peacefully to sleep.

"Just a few minutes," she told the voice, though it was so quiet, she would have never been heard. But Chun Li didn't care. "Just a few minutes."

**XXXXX**

"You're gonna have to excuse the mess," Kenny explained, feeling a little embarrassed as he stabbed the key into the lock of his basement suite just a ten minute commute from downtown Osaka. "I don't mind if you crash here for as long as you need to, but you're gonna have to move the …"

"…piles of dirty laundry," Cranky frowned, upon laying his eyes on the condition of the living room. Wrinkled clothes were strewn all over the floor and furniture. There was a low table in front of a small thirteen inch Toshiba television set. Crushed aluminum cans of coffee and beer littered the tabletop and spilled down to the space around the four legs. Short piles of dirty dishes were stacked carelessly on either side of a futon tinted in a rainbow of hues in such a disorganized, random manner that which had Cranky doubting the furnishing actually came that way. "You're a pig," he said, picking up a pair of dirty socks left on the dining table.

"Beats a cardboard box," Kenny replied, shrugging. "You can have the futon tonight. That's the cleanest place to rest your head here."

"Really?" Cranky asked, eyeing the piece of questionable furniture surrounded by litter and dirty dishes. "What about you?"

"I got the bedroom," Kenny said. "It's been awhile since I've been in there anyway." Cranky shot him a questioning look. "The mess kicked me out." Cranky merely shook his head, unable to find the right words to express his disbelief. "You want something to drink? I have water and some beer in the fridge, which reminds me, I have to pick some more up tomorrow."

"I'm not listening…" Cranky said, walking off to explore the filthy surroundings even more. He wasn't going to hear about his kid brother drinking beer. Sure, Kenny was a teenager now, and hell, Cranky had started drinking when he was younger than Kenny now! But to him, Kenny would always and forever be a kid. The level of tidiness in this place, or lack thereof, proved it all the more. His path eventually led him to the fridge to which he'd been initially invited to in the first place.

He opened the door to find days-old pre-made sushi from the corner store, bottled tea and some old pizza. The beer was on the lowest shelf on the fridge door with four cans remaining.

"Well if you're not having any," Kenny said, opening the patio sliding door, "throw me one anyway. But if you feel like it, you can have some too. Wanna join me for a smoke?"

Cranky reluctantly reached for a can, wrapped his fingers around the cold aluminum and fought against the instinct to not let Kenny have his own alcoholic beverage. "Let go," he forced himself to remember what he told himself earlier with Cammy, "let go. He's not a kid. It's okay. He's responsible enough." Cranky slapped on a fake smile to mask his disapproving frown and grabbed a can in each hand.

Five minutes later, Kenny and Cranky were sitting on the patio looking out onto the busy Osaka streets and the beers were cracked open. The brothers each took a cool, refreshing swig, tossing their heads back. Kenny let out a mammoth belch, pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.

"You know, this could be a nice place," Cranky noted as he stared out onto the street, "if you cleaned up a little. The view you have here is really ... What's the word? … Tranquil."

"We're on the ground level," Kenny said, cocking a brow, wondering what Cranky was getting at.

"This little patio is kinda nice." And indeed it was at least a little quaint, with a cluster of baby bamboo shoots tied together with gold string, sitting in a small Chinese porcelain pot resting on a cherry wood stand in the corner of the patio. They were fenced in by a wooden partition separating the property from the rest of the world. There was a miniature rock garden in a rectangular marble trough lined on the sides with Bonsai trees set into the right wall. It was low enough that it could have been used as a seat, if not for the delicate pebble and gravel formations, giving the patio a very Zen-like feel. "You like it here?"

Kenny shrugged. "It's alright, I guess," he admitted. "The place itself is a hole, and no, not all of it is my mess. But it's convenient. It's close to the late night convenient store, and the okonomiyaki joint where I work. SHIT! WORK!" Kenny's eyes went wide – his young heart threatened to stop beating and it wasn't because of his smoking. "Oh my fucking GOD, Mr. Takayama's gonna kill me!"

"I'm sure he'll understand all the bullshit you've been through," Cranky reassured him.

"Yeah, and what'll I tell him? 'I was kidnapped, underwent a illegal, agonizing operation, got into a car crash, got beaten up by a sister I never knew I had, nearly got shot in the head by a brother I never knew I had, and topped it off with lunch with a transvestite bell boy.' Who the hell would believe that?"

"You had lunch with a transvestite bellboy?"

"Yeah, yesterday," Kenny said. "He just came to change the sheets in Cammy's suite and commented on how good the food smelled so I gave it to him."

"Are you talking about the breakfast I made you? I put a lot of effort into that!"

"I wasn't hungry. I was in pain."

"Well if you don't eat, how the hell do you expect to get better? You hadn't eaten a proper meal in so long and nearly got killed! Your body was probably starved of nutrition! And instead, you just pass off the food you need over to some …"

"Ok whoa there!" Kenny interrupted, putting up a hand. "At least your efforts didn't go to waste, right?"

"That's not the point!" Cranky shook his head. "Jesus, Kenny, I honestly don't know what to do with you sometimes." He took an angry swig of beer and set it back down on the bistro table a little harder than he intended. "Did he at least like it?"

"Oh yeah," Kenny nodded. "He had a lot of questions about you and Cammy too."

This peaked Cranky's curiosity. "What could he possibly have wanted to know?"

"Oh, come on! Cammy's a Street Fighter. I bet she's starting to get her own fan base now! He was probably just one of them, and asked if she had a boyfriend. Then I thought about you and your possessive, overprotective complex and flat out told him it'd be in his best interest to not make a move on Cammy. He seemed heartbroken though. Didn't even change the sheets in the end, the little pisser. Probably went off to put on more makeup on his face or something. Yeah, he was a strange one, alright. Vega … who the hell names themselves after a fucking star? From now on, Cranky, you can be Polaris, and I'll be …"

"Did you say Vega!" Cranky suddenly said, knocking the table so hard, it nearly toppled. But he was oblivious to the pain throbbing in his elbow.

"Yes, yes, I did," Kenny replied, stabilizing the table, "and don't break my bistro patio set. Cost me a fortune, this thing."

"He didn't fucking touch you, did he?"

"Ease up, Crank," Kenny replied, "he was weird, yeah, but he didn't do anything. And thinking about it now, that was part of the problem. I had to change the damn sheets and make the bed by myself and …"

"Stay the hell away from that maniac," Cranky said. "Listen to me." He grasped Kenny firmly by the shoulders. "That guy wasn't a bell boy. He's a crazy …" Then he thought about the promise he made to Colonel Wolfman and Chun Li. He would keep Vega's existence from Cammy. But knowing how open the communication lines were between Kenny and her, Cranky would have to keep the news from his own brother as well. "He's a crazy drug addict," he fibbed. "He was a member of one of the rival gangs back in the day when we were on the street."

"Whoa …" Kenny's eyes were wide and he was silenced, believing Cranky's lie. "That's harsh. Maybe he wanted to come back and get revenge on you or something." Cranky chewed away at his lip to numb the stab of guilt he felt for the lie. But it was for the greater good.

"No, that's not it. Forget about Vega. But next time you see him, don't stick around. Just walk the hell away, run if you have to. Am I clear?"

"Christ, I can take care of …"

"I said, am I clear!"

"… yeah …"

"Good."

Kenny exhaled sharply and abruptly stood from his seat, walking over to the railing where he stared out onto the streets. Second hand smoke spewed from his mouth and seemed to mix with the car exhaust in the air. "What you did back there at the Osaka Dome," Kenny began, "when you defended me from Issei, that was nice, and, well, I just … I'm thankful – I mean …" The words weren't coming out properly. Kenny's gratitude was immense, but couldn't seem to figure out how to voice it without making himself look defenseless, in need of protection, reliant.

"I did what I wanted to do," Cranky replied directly. "Granted, I thought it was Cammy at first. But when I saw you, it didn't make things any better. So … you're welcome." He'd saved Kenny from having to verbalize his gratitude.

"Oh, Katarina was handling Cammy inside the ward."

"Which made the situation twice as bad."

"And that was what made you fight like some kind of karate expert?"

"I'm not a karate expert."

"I know what I saw," Kenny insisted. "You handled Issei - a Shadowlaw Admiral, trained in multiple fighting styles, without breaking a sweat."

"Issei is all muscle," Cranky said, dismissing the fact like it had meant nothing. "He might be skilled, but I noticed he relied more on his brawn than any of his abilities. I'm the same way, having never worn a karate uniform. That's why I was able to take him on."

Kenny nodded slightly, understanding what he was being told, though he never took his eyes off the distant headlights moving along the road. "I've never seen you open a can of ass-whooping like that before."

"And quite frankly," Cranky countered, "I'm surprised you even noticed, with all that six-shooting you were doing back there. You took out his guards, who would've probably put a bullet in my back before I could throw a punch. You saved my life too, Kenny."

"Well," Kenny shrugged, feeling his face start to redden, "I couldn't let them lay a finger on my big brother, could I?"

Cranky smiled, impressed with Kenny's resolve, and the skill he displayed. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"

"I didn't walk out of the Raccoon City disaster alive by sheer luck, you know. It was learning how to use a gun, or die."

"Your parents would have been proud," Cranky said. "I know I am."

"Okay, stop that," Kenny said, feeling a little embarrassed. "Like you, I was only doing what I wanted to do, okay?" He shook his head and took another drag from the cigarette, analyzing his own accomplishments. He'd learned a lot in the six month time frame between the Raccoon City incident and his return to Osaka for the Street Fighter tournaments. Protecting himself against those who wanted his head was starting to come naturally to him and while initially, his skill could've been attributed to the Shadow Technology working inside him, Kenny knew now that wasn't the case, since the technology had been removed – painfully – from his body.

Maybe that was what Ryu meant when referred to Kenny's "skill" back at the hospital. Ryu hadn't implied the artificial abilities the Technology endowed him with, though Kenny thought he was at the time. If his talent at survival and his ability to stare danger right in the face and laugh was natural, where the hell could he have gotten it from? It was something he had in common with Issei, a strong link to support everyone's claims about them being blood brothers. But they must've have gotten it from their parents. However as far as Kenny knew, their father was a scientist and their mother a stay-at-home wife, and an ex high school teacher.

"Hey, Crank?" Kenny asked out of the blue, breaking the silent moment.

"Yeah?" Cranky replied, having been pulled from his own thoughts, whatever they were.

"My mom raised you, didn't she?"

"Yeah." He smiled his memory of Shao Mei Feng. "She was the most incredible woman in my life."

"Can you tell me," Kenny requested, his words suggesting an air of curiosity, "what were my mom and dad like?"

**XXXXX**

"Chun Li!" Ryu cried, though he didn't think she could hear him. The Interpol agent was nothing but a bloody heap of meat on the ground. His cry had caught Sagat's attention as he looked over her unconscious body. Ryu's mouth filled with the bitter taste of disgust as he took in the scene, a giant man of Sagat's proportions standing over the battered body of a petite woman. Unlike the Thai warrior, Ryu had a good idea of what Chun Li's last moments of consciousness were like. He knew how driven she was to take down Shadowlaw. Her intentions agreed with his, though her motivations did not. He could understand if she had suffered an intolerable amount of hatred before closing her eyes to rest – not the best way to get to sleep. And he doubted it was her brain that had invoked the sleep; more like her defeated body. Sagat must have beaten her up considerably, since Ryu was well aware of the woman's determination to bring down Shadowlaw. In fact, he didn't think _desperation_ was too extreme a word to describe it.

"She had no chance," Sagat said, noticing Ryu.

Ryu agreed, though he refused to say anything that might imply he had anything in common with the warrior. "Neither do you," Ryu said, "if this is how you plan on regaining the honor you lost during our last battle."

"Well do tell me then, how I may regain that honor, if it isn't to beat the stuffing out of you, Master?" Sagat retorted, his words thick with sarcasm.

"So this is what happens to the champion of Muay Thai when he loses," Ryu said, hoping to rile Sagat up. Chun Li had been defeated by allowing her emotions to get the better of her, and he was hoping Sagat would make the same mistake. "He lets himself become a puppet. And if that isn't dishonorable enough, it's Shadowlaw who he allows to manipulate him."

"There was no other way to find you," Sagat defended himself. "They were the only ones resourceful enough to track down a cowardly hermit, such as yourself."

"I have been training for this meeting, Sagat," Ryu explained. "I may have defeated you before, but as the years pass, as I gain experience from every battle I participate in, I become more and more convinced that my victory was achieved through sheer luck. You want a rematch, as I have been eager for one too. You want to regain your honor by defeating the opponent who defeated you, who scarred you physically and emotionally. And I want to defeat you again – through skill, this time."

"Then let us not waste a moment longer."

Sagat crouched low and pumped both his fists forward. Ryu could see the projectile attack coming from a mile away and jumped high to avoid the attack. But he didn't hear Sagat's declaration of the move, and it registered instantly that the "attack" had been a feigned one, its only purpose to set Ryu up for a counterattack. But by the time the Shotokan warrior realized this, it was too late for him. He was already sailing in a diagonal parabola to deliver a flying kick into the Muay Thai warrior's eye-patched face.

"Tiger Uppercut!" Sagat threw his arm upwards and launched himself higher into the air than his stature and bulk may have suggested. Ryu was bettered with hits from his lower abdomen all the way to his chin from the one move Sagat executed. His body was thrown left and right with the impacts until he spiraled out of control until gravity reclaimed his body and pulled him to the ground.

An amateur would have been either disoriented or knocked out cold. But a seasoned warrior like Ryu was able to regain his balance even as he fell, upside down, and in midair. Ryu regained control by using the momentum gained from his fall, twisting his body expertly, his headband whipping around him in the wind, and landed silently on his feet. Never losing a beat in the fight, Ryu fought back with a roundhouse sweep aimed low, to take Sagat off his feet. Sagat blocked, refusing to open himself up to a counterattack. Ryu switched it up, attacking high this time, with a downward punch, his collarbone breaker. Sagat parried the first hit but wasn't anticipating the second hit, coming from Ryu's elbow, which cracked him atop his bald head.

Sagat was stunned by the blow, allowing the opening Ryu had been trying to achieve, and launched himself into a dragon uppercut. Now it was the Muay Thai warrior's turn to get knocked senseless into the air. At the peak of his jump, Ryu executed a hurricane kick, extending a leg and spun his body, letting his foot connect with Sagat's head and chest for a four hit combination attack.

"How can you hope to achieve true victory," Ryu asked his opponent as Sagat struggled to get back to his feet, "when you have surrendered yourself to the whims of M. Bison? You are no longer your own man, but a mere puppet, no better than the Dolls who Bison once controlled."

Sagat shot off a projectile attack, the same one he had opened the fight with, but Ryu blocked the concentrated ball of chi effortlessly. "Don't underestimate me, Ryu," Sagat said. "I have not lost a sense of myself, unlike the Dolls had."

"It makes no difference when you have lost the ability to make your own decisions."

"Tiger Raid!" Sagat was on the offensive now, delivering a crouching kick, jumped back up and performed a spinning roundhouse and a forward kick with the opposing leg, then launched himself at Ryu, leg first, like a multi-hitting missile. The succession of multiple hits broke through Ryu's defenses, rendering him vulnerable. Sagat took the chance to throw more fireballs in Ryu's direction. The first one hit the Shotokan warrior flat in the face, the second one in the chest, though he was able to recover in time to block the third.

Sagat wasted no more time and continued pressing against Ryu and the pair began trading blows. Ryu ate a punch to the jaw, countered with a left and right hook, socking Sagat once in the nose, who delivered a rib crunching knee assault, had that blocked while Ryu executed a mule kick connecting twice. They fought expertly, neither one seemingly about to give way anytime soon, moving around the statue of the reclining Buddha, Chun Li's unconscious body, and the row of palm trees in a deadly martial arts dance. Their deft, expert movements stirred the air around them from a gentle breeze into a heavy wind, kicking up dead leaves and dust in their wake.

For Sagat, this was the fight he had been waiting for, to regain his honor. For Ryu, the fight he currently engaged in with Sagat was also a milestone for his life as a warrior, testing him against a worthy rival for the second time in his life, and was simultaneously just another road block in his quest to bring Shadowlaw down. There was no describing the symbolic significance this encounter had with him.

**XXXXX**

Issei reached into a pocket of his black, loose pants made of a light, silent material, and pulled out a piece of fabric of the same hue. Unfolding it, the fabric would be recognizable as a facial shroud which he wrapped tightly around his face, revealing only his narrow eyes. Issei looked like a ninja, with everything from the two-toed boots, wrist guards, mask, and a samurai sword strapped to his back. Sure, the ninjas of medieval Japan rarely carried samurai swords, but being trained in various forms of combat, Issei had no problem wielding it no matter what costume he donned. There was only one shade to Issei's broad, muscular form – which was the only physical aspect that suggested he may have been more than a ninja - and that was the darkest black. The material looked as if it had been layered with multiple coats of Indian ink.

Dusk was slowly beginning to settle in the humid Thai weather and he was beginning to feel a coat of sweat form on his forehead and on his lower back. He had long ago grown accustomed to heat and knew it wouldn't hinder his mission tonight, though he never liked it anyway – just learned to deal with it. He extracted a walkie-talkie from the dark sash tied around his waist and activated it.

"Luwanda, come in," he whispered. Issei had to be careful to keep his voice low, not wanting to risk detection from the pair of Shadowlaw guards posted at the temple entrance. They were patrolling a square platform, above the center of which hung a giant bell. Issei laid low in the bushes about thirty meters away, adjusting the dial on his communication device. "Repeat, Luwanda, come in!" he said again, more urgently this time.

"Luwanda here," came the reply, finally, after a few tense seconds that seemed to him like an eternity. "Sorry for making you wait, Aaron, but I had to wait for the coast to be clear."

"Where are you?" he asked, ignoring her excuses.

"At the bottom level," she said, "by the prisoner cells. I've managed to locate Katarina's cell, thanks to Ginzu's hacking efforts. She's around here somewhere. But you better get down here ASAP, and I'm not joking. I don't think I'm supposed to be down here and if the guards catch me, I'll be escorted out."

"Relax, I know the way down," Issei assured her. "Besides, you can always engage the guards if it comes down to that."

"Yeah, but I'm not in the mood to start shit up, especially when you're not here to back me up."

"Can you find my sister? Is she okay?"

"I haven't found her yet," Luwanda reported. "I'm looking into the cells – literally – as we speak, and I'm trying to find the same woman I saw brought to the compound just the other day. I still have a pretty good idea of what she looks like."

"When you find her, please help keep her safe until I get there," Issei pleaded, something he'd rarely done before with anyone in his life. "I should make my way there within the next ten to fifteen minutes."

"Just hurry your ass up," Luwanda repeated. "I'm doing everything in my power to remain undetected, but this definitely won't last forever."

"I'm on my way. Over and out." Issei shut off the walkie talkie and shut it off before placing it back in his sash. He wasn't going to risk any messages coming through, opening him up to Shadowlaw's detection. He reached into the pockets containing the throwing stars and held two of them between the grooves of his fingers. With an expert flick, he sent the sharp, deadly pieces of razor metal slicing silently through the air, downing the guards swiftly and quietly. They dropped to the ground, dead, without so much as a scream. Before making his way out of the bushes, he let his eyes scan the surrounding areas for anymore guards he may have missed. When he determined the coast clear, Issei tiptoed towards the fallen guards and removed their rifles and ammunition. The semi-automatics were a much to big for him to carry and remain silent, so he settled for their handguns and combat knives instead, tucking each firearm alongside the walkie-talkie, and hid each knife in a boot. Then he continued onward.

Within the faux Thai temple, Issei found the secret entrance to the lower levels of the base behind the altar centered in the main hall. The walls of the interior were decorated with elaborately carved spirals made of gold placed in the four corners of the giant worshipping space, and ancient Buddhist scriptures hanging against the walls on scrolls. The air inside smelled vaguely of oriental incense, a scent that reminded him of the early days he spent here training to become a worthy soldier for Shadowlaw so that he would one day be able to meet his father, something Bison himself had promised Issei. Remembering the promise, Issei grew bitter and resentful with Bison's lies. Dr. Feng, the man Issei had longed to meet his whole life, the man he trained hard for to be able to meet face to face one day had actually died long before Bison even made him the promise. The lies had brought out the best in the soldier's capabilities, but the pain that resulted upon finding out his father had been dead for nine years wasn't worth turning into the man he had become. A cold blooded murderer whose one objective for all he did could never be met.

_And the fact that he blamed Dr. Feng's death on Kenny, fully expecting me to kill the only blood relative I have besides Katarina … _Issei grew angrier the longer he dwelled on his past and had to force himself to focus on the task at hand. Bison had ruined his family, killed his father, turned the surviving siblings on one another, siblings that needed each other in times of need – Bison's lies couldn't be forgiven. Yet, Issei wasn't sure if killing Bison with his bare hands would satisfy the rage in him. The death would take little more than a minute, perhaps five if Bison was strong enough to hold on for that much longer. It was nowhere near the amount of suffering and the time spent in that kind of torture that he and Katarina had endured, and perhaps Kenny too.

Issei crept through the lower levels of the base, navigating the complicated maze of metallic corridors as if he was going for a stroll in the park – except for the fact that he had kept to the shadows, hiding in them whenever footsteps approached. Usually, the off duty guards were intoxicated at this time of the night and would take no notice of his shadowy form hiding where the pools of light from overhead fluorescent bulbs failed to provide adequate lighting. Most guards stumbled by without even taking a glance in his direction but those who wandered dangerously close were taken out efficiently with a quick snap of the neck. Most of them were shorter than Issei, and much smaller build, though they were by no means unable-bodied men. So far his luck had held out. Not a single scream had filled the quiet corridors, not a single bullet fired. But he hurried on nonetheless, realizing that it'd only be a matter of time when someone would stumble across the corpses Issei had left in his wake.

Issei heard more footsteps headed right for him as he approached his destination, where Luwanda said she was holding out for him. He was now on the bottom level, leaping silently down flights of stairs, lowering his body from one level to the next with superior upper body strength, as opposed to taking the flights down. Now that he had exited the emergency stairwell – which was a far smarter alternative to the industrial elevators used for transporting platoons and oversized equipment for the scientific departments – he was on the lowest level, and noted how the scenery had changed. As if the lighting hadn't been dim enough on the higher levels, the incandescent bulbs were more sparsely spread out here, offering more shadows for him to hide in. The unmistakable scent of moister, mold and decay assaulted his senses and Issei fought against his reaction to vomit. As wealthy an organization as Shadowlaw was, they had spent little to no money on the maintenance of the prison cells not because they couldn't afford it, but because they wanted capitalize on their prisoners having an extremely shitty experience here. Issei hadn't been down here very often before and hadn't bothered to memorize the layout. And it was hard enough to get a sense of where he was going stumbling around in this darkness. He crept close to the walls, getting a feel for the grooves he hoped would serve as a landmark, but gave up after realizing the walls were consistent in their rough texture, and how moist they were to the touch. The moisture had soaked through his black fabric gloves and onto his skin.

The footsteps were getting closer now and Issei pressed his back against the wall, trying to ignore the moisture seeping through his clothes and onto his back. The steps were light, suggesting that whoever it was had a build smaller than that of the soldiers he had already taken out. Hold on a minute, there were two kinds of steps here – a light one, and a much heavier one. He cautiously reached into his boot and pulled out one of the combat knives he'd taken off the guards at the temple entrance and waited.

In the dim light, Issei failed to see the soldiers coming and something brushed up against his arm. One of the soldiers cried out in surprise and Issei wasted no time in taking him down. He slashed at the larger soldier's throat, opening up a wide gash in this throat, severing his vocal cords. The soldier gripped at his throat, unable to scream, as thick, hot blood sprayed out from the wound, leaking from between his tightly clasped fingers while he died silently. Issei focused his attention on the smaller soldier and lashed out again.

This smaller soldier was a lot quicker and expertly dodged the otherwise fatal stab. The quick movement loosened the helmet on his head, indicating that it hadn't been strapped in the first place, and Issei saw the young face staring back at him – the familiar face of a Japanese boy taken in by Shadowlaw just four years prior, rescuing the little deviant from a life of jail in the Osaka prisons. The youth had a violent streak living on Osaka's streets. He wasn't a petty thief like most of the other street children – this one had severe problems, and had resorted to mugging people, and murdering the uncooperative individuals who served as his victims regardless of age, sex or race. Bison had personally hand picked the violent child, recognizing the twisted potential in him that could be nurtured into something far greater. And one of Issei's tasks had been to help with that growth.

"Genta!" Issei cried with surprise. Of course, he should have recognized the boy earlier, having served as his mentor. But now, staring at the dark, dead, narrow eyes of the youth who looked back fearfully at him – the first emotional expression Issei could ever remembering registering on the face of that fifteen year old boy, he suddenly felt a stab of guilt … like he had betrayed Genta, the young man who so eagerly followed in his footsteps.

Genta threw himself to the ground, pressing his forehead into the ground at Issei's feet. "Sensei!" he cried in a weak, voice, a tone that only Issei himself had ever heard coming from his lips. "W…what happened to you? Everybody was so worried about you!" The youth then fixed his eyes over to his fallen comrade, who Issei now recognized as Tran, a Vietnamese recruit who was at least two to three levels below him. Genta continued, confused by his Master's actions. "What have you done to Master Tran…?" He was struggling to contain his terror, unsure of how else to comprehend what his young mind had just witnessed. So in Issei's absence, they had Tran replace him as Genta's Master.

"Listen to me," Issei said, pointing the knife away from his young protégé and helped him back to his feet. He bent down on one knee to look the youth in the eye, or at least as best as he could in this light, taking him by the elbows to keep his arms by his side. "Genta, I want you to leave this organization as soon as you get the chance. Shadowlaw is in danger and I don't want you getting caught up in it. Take the emergency elevator to the surface and run as far as you can."

"Sensei," Genta said, his voice still quavering, "I don't understand what's going on."

"It's better that you don't," Issei said, cutting his explanation short. "Just do as I say, okay?" Genta snapped a salute without questioning his superior's orders, completely unaware that Issei had defected, and ran off as he had been told. If Issei had been able to perform a good deed tonight, this was it as he continued on his way toward Luwanda's most recent location.

He found her standing in a pool of shadow, hiding just as Issei had been, in front of what appeared to be a random cell door. Luwanda turned to look at him, alarmed by his presence at first, but upon seeing that Issei wasn't garbed in the traditional suit of armor provided to Shadowlaw's soldiers, she seemed to calm down a little, in her army fatigues and red beret, though she kept her guard up.

"Who are you?" she asked

"It's me," Issei replied, "Aaron Feng. I believe this is the first time we've ever met face to face."

"You can never be too careful," Luwanda said, lowering the firearm she had trained on him up to that point. "I've located the cell according to the information Ginzu provided me with, though I don't have the clearance to get the door open."

"Hopefully they haven't changed the codes," Issei said, approaching the numeric keypad attached to the walls beside the door. He hit a series of buttons, each one producing a soft, high pitched electronic ping before the locks released with a hiss. Despite the shabby décor of the prison floor, the quality of their security devices was top notch, though Issei was left wondering why they hadn't bothered changing the codes when Shadowlaw was well aware that he would probably return for his sister. He turned to Luwanda as he grasped the handle of the cell door, pushing it inwards, allowing him entry into the cell. "Stay here and watch the door," he said. "I'll be right out." Luwanda nodded without saying anything while Issei entered.

The cell looked like some kind of medieval prison with a cobblestone flooring and straw provided for bedding. A dirty toilet with poor plumbing sat in the far left corner towards the back of the room, emitting a fowl odor. At the far right corner was a bed of straw for prisoners to rest, though no blanket was provided. Despite the heat in this part of the world, they were far enough underground for the temperature to drop to a cooler level. Upon the straw bed, to Issei's slight surprise lay two unmoving human forms.

He approached the closer one, who he immediately recognized as his sister, trying to ignore the wave of relief that washed over him. He approached Katarina and put his hand on her shoulder, trying to rouse her from her sleep. Despite the less than adequate lighting, the blood and bruises on her usually immaculate complexion were clear. She was suffering from a black eye and a broken lip. Her usually neatly kept hair lay around her head in a tangled mess. He shook her lightly but there was no response.

"Please help her," the other human form begged, who Issei saw was a prepubescent boy, a few years younger than Genta. The boy brushed his dark curly bangs away from his brow to clear his vision and crawled towards Katarina and looked helplessly at Issei, tears forming in his wide, cerulean blue eyes. "She helped comfort me while they kept me here," the boy continued, "made everything less scary."

"What did they do to her?" Issei demanded.

"The other day, when they brought her here," the boy explained, tears starting to fall from recalling the recent events the occurred before Issei's arrival, "she was telling me a story about her past. She said her brother was going to come and rescue us from here. Are you … are you Aaron?"

Issei was floored and touched at his sister's faith in him after all this time. Their contact with each other while under the tutelage of Shadowlaw's masters was little at best, yet it was good to see that their bond as fraternal twins had not been shattered even under the most testing circumstances. "Y…yes," Issei replied.

The boy threw himself into Issei's arms and began sobbing desparately. "They came!" he cried, terrified. Issei didn't know where he got the instinct to wrap his arms around the boy's small, trembling shoulders to comfort him. Someone so young, held prisoner for no reason he could possibly aware of must have been a terrifying experience. Issei remembered when he himself was around the same age, when they had kept him and his sister in similar cells before being recruited into Shadowlaw's ranks, though he had fought hard to suppress those memories in the farthest recesses of his memory. "They came and beat her up!" the boy continued to sob. "I … I tried to stop them, but I couldn't do anything! I tried, Aaron-sir, I really tried!"

"Shh …" Issei said, "I know you did. I believe you. There wasn't much you could have done anyway." He pulled the boy away from his body, who had seemed to calmed a little from his presence. "Thank you for looking out for my sister though." Issei tousled his hair affectionately. "I really appreciate it. Now what do you say we get you guys out of here, huh?" The boy nodded enthusiastically as Issei wiped the tears from his tender face with a coarse thumb. "You know my name. Now why don't you tell me yours?"

"M…my name is Dorian," the boy replied. "Dorian Marquez."

"AAAHH!" Their conversation was interrupted Luwanda's scream coming from outside the cell.

"Luwanda!" Issei cried, momentarily forgetting about Dorian. He heard her limp body hit the door and slump to the ground. Getting to his feet, Issei rushed to the door and pulled it open, thankful that it hadn't closed on him. Otherwise it'd have locked him in with Katarina and Dorian. It was Luwanda's injured body, now leaking blood from a stab wound, that had kept the door held open for him.

"What the …"

"I'm sorry, Aaron," she apologized to him weakly. "I … I didn't see them coming …"

"What's going on out there?" Dorian cried, rushing to the door.

"NO!" Issei ordered. "You stay right there! I'll take care of this!" He looked for Luwanda's attackers but didn't have to look far. Standing just a few feet away, tossing a combat knife identical to the ones Issei had taken off the guards was Genta, with a smirk spread across his young face. He was flanked by three backup Shadowlaw soldiers, their faces hidden behind visors attached to their sleek, black combat helmets. All three of stood behind Genta, semi-automatic rifles pointed directly at Issei.

"You were a fool to let me run off like that, Sensei," Genta boasted. "I'd given you too much credit. I didn't think you'd fall into an obvious trap such as this one."

"You … you traitor!" Issei cried.

"I'm the pot, and you're the fucking kettle," Genta retorted. "You don't think Shadowlaw's been hunting the damned globe for your ugly head, especially after what you and Katarina have done? By coming here, you've spelled your own doom. I fully expected you to stay far away, to let Katarina die. After all, you were the one who taught me that we can't afford to waste our time on our petty obligations on others, especially in time of battle. If we all did that, the mission objective would never be achieved. But alas, going back on your word – looks like all this time, you went against your own teachings and proved yourself a fool from the beginning."

**XXXXX**

"Your mother …" Cranky couldn't figure out where to begin answering Kenny's question. "Her name was Shao Mei – a very kind woman, committed to raising kids as best as she could."

"What was she like?"

"Well …" Cranky scratched at his head, trying to recall what he remembered of the only other woman besides Cammy who he held close to his heart, though the memory of her was a lot less clear after all the time had passed. "It was the children that were the most dear to her, besides you and your father, of course. I'd never seen her break a sweat when doing the chores at home while your father was at work. Those were during the times I came over to have lunch with her and I'd help her clean up. I think Mei was lonely while Dr. Feng was off at work all day and night. So she kept herself busy by taking care of you and cleaning up the house."

"But if Dad was busy at work," Kenny said, crinkling his brow as he took another drag, "who would have messed it up?"

"You shat like a little bitch," Cranky replied.

Kenny turned a deep shade of red, noticeable even in the night.

"She started taking ikebana classes in the afternoon at the local university – flower arranging – but by that time I was old enough to take care of you. I never told Mei this, but while she was in class, I took you down to the playground near the outskirts of town, in the bad area to Kaneyama Park."

"Haha!" Kenny laughed. "You took me to the bad parts of town knowing there'd be trouble there! You were an asshole even back then!"

"Oh, I'd smack you so hard right now if you remembered anything about that time at all!" Cranky countered. "I never wanted to take you there, but you'd always scream, cry, whine and beg until you got what you wanted. And, may I add, that your tantrums haven't gotten any better. Now that I think of it – Mei was good. She knew exactly when the terrible twos would hit and dumped you on me when the moment was right."

"So I take it I loved that park, huh?"

"There was a swing set there made out of those rusty chains, not those cheap ass rubber ones like they make them right now. And every afternoon it was always 'Kaneyama ni onegai!', without fail. To Kaneyama Park, please. I'd say no. 'I said please!' you'd insist. Then I'd say no again. 'PLEEEEEASE?'" Cranky was mocking Kenny's cries as a kid, a time that he couldn't remember and Cranky seemed to be the only one impressed with his acting ability.

"You're not funny."

"And if that didn't work," Cranky continued, "you'd turn on the water works. If I resisted still, then came the screaming. I'd always give in at the end, but even still, as punishment for refusing in the first place, you'd always like to play 'shadow' on our way over there."

"Hahaha!" Kenny chuckled. "Only the most annoying game in the world!"

"But Mei found out what we'd been up to one day a few weeks later."

"How?"

"When I got beaten up by a bunch of motorcycle gang wannabes, a bunch of kids around my age … That's not a time I'm sure you'd like to recall."

"What happened that day?" Kenny pressed, proving Cranky's claims wrong.

He sighed. "They attacked me when I was pushing you on the swing set," Cranky explained. "One guy came up behind me and tried to crack me over the head baseball bat, but I managed to dodge. It hit my shoulder though, and I fractured a bone. They …" Cranky faltered, the trauma of the experience suddenly resonating in him. "They told me to leave the country; that they didn't want to see me in Japan again. They called me a 'pale ghost'. It doesn't sound so bad in English, but when translated into Japanese …"

"I know," Kenny said, understanding completely.

"Looking back, they were about to commit a hate crime."

"What about me? I was a foreigner too."

"And you think they could tell? You were as fluent in Japanese as a two year old could be, and you're Chinese – don't look that much different. But it didn't matter to the gangsters. While I wrestled with them on the ground, three against one, a fourth one came and pushed you higher on the swing but you weren't laughing happily anymore. You were terrified. He pushed you so high that you were launched off the swing. You could've gotten hurt, but luckily, you were only bruised. It must've been the bark mulch."

"How were you able to …"

"Fought them off," Cranky said. "I don't know how I did it, but … the next thing I remember, they were scampering away. Someone had probably called the police or something. I honestly can't recall much after that. Mei didn't raise her voice to me until around a month later, when we'd both sufficiently recovered. Then she gave the shelling of a lifetime. But before that, while I drifted in and out of consciousness, I recall her crying softly beside my bed."

Kenny looked at the cigarette smoking itself from in between his fingers. It wasn't fair – not for Cranky, anyway. He had been Kenny's big brother since the earliest days of his life, and he only beginning to understand that now, fifteen years later. Cranky had sacrificed so much of his time, sweat, blood and tears for Kenny, and his acts of selflessness was repaid by the youth's sheer ignorance and backtalk.

The more people experienced in life, the more they learned and gradually develop into mature, independent adults. But Kenny, having his memories robbed from him under Shadowlaw's torture at the tender age of six, had his growth as a person effectively set back. As independent as he'd liked to think himself to be, Kenny knew he was far from it. And during that nine year time period that he lived on his own, wondering where he came from, Cranky had spent every sleepless night not knowing whether Kenny was dead or alive. Upon getting a lead from Cammy, who had somehow found Kenny in Raccoon City, Cranky had risked his life by entering the infected city to get Kenny out – when he had no idea that Cranky had even existed. He was still looking out for his little brother, even when the little brother remained unaware, insisting he be left alone to live his life. Reflecting on the way he spoke, the disrespect he was once so proud of to be able to convey without saying much, Kenny began to comprehend the suffocating level of his selfishness.

"Crank?" he said, realizing only then that it had been a good few seconds before either of them had said anything.

"Mmm?" was the tired reply. Cranky had reclined in his seat and had already begun dozing off.

"Thanks."

"What for?" Cranky's words came as a lazy, muffled mumble, having being roused just as he was falling asleep.

"Everything."

Whether or not Cranky understood what Kenny meant, he didn't seem to take much notice and instead, focused on getting some shut eye. He just waved his hand dismissively at Kenny and rolled onto his side, putting his back to Kenny. "Dun' mention it …" he said sleepily. "Now get to bed. It's late."

Kenny headed back into the apartment and pulled a blanket off the couch. He threw it over his shoulder and headed back out onto the patio where Cranky lay sleeping. Unraveling it, Kenny carefully placed the fabric, over Cranky's body and stepped back inside, leaving the patio door open.

"From now on," Kenny promised quietly, "I'm going to be as strong as I can be, so that you can finally be happy with Cammy without having to keep an eye on me. After everything you've done for me, you deserve that much. It's the least I can do."

No sooner than the words had finished running through his head when Kenny heard an unanticipated response, as if coming from the Devil himself, sucking all the life from the room.

"_Kondo, tsuyoku ni narana kereba ikenai …" _(And now, more than ever, you need to be strong.)

"Who's there?" Kenny cried, whirling his head around his apartment, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious speaker, though he saw nothing. The only thing he noticed was how dark the room had gotten since he and Cranky arrived. And they had left the lights off!

"_Ryu ni iru basho wo tsutaerou …." _(Tell me where Ryu is.)

And then Kenny remembered, the hair on the back of his neck standing up, his spine sending involuntary shivers throughout his body – back the incident at the hospital when he was talking to Ryu, the shadowy form he saw creeping around the Osaka Dome during the tournament matches …

_Messatsu_ …

**XXXXX**

Ryu almost gawked in surprise when he ducked a roundhouse kick from Sagat, watching his opponent's leg land into the trunk of one of the palm trees and continue in its arc, snapping the trunk like it was a twig. Sagat didn't even flinch in as he brought his leg back, this time in a hook kick which Ryu expertly dodged again. Standing at over seven feet tall, the Muay Thai warrior possessed a reach advantage over Ryu with his longer limbs. Ryu would have to get closer if he hoped to land a punch but by then, he'd be well within Sagat's reach. To avoid being struck unnecessarily, Ryu maintained a mentally measured distance between him and his opponent – far enough to remain just outside of striking distance, close enough so that he could dash in, strike, and leap away with lower chances of meeting a counterattack. Now he just had to figure out what Sagat was anticipating from him, so he could do something else.

The fight had dragged on for almost an hour with neither warrior gaining an advantage over the other. They both breathed heavily from previous efforts, most of their moves having either been dodged or blocked by each other. And the heat, the choking, humid heat wasn't making it any easier, zapping the energy from both their bodies.

"Give up," Sagat advised. "You have wasted your efforts on me. Even if you do manage to walk out of this battle victoriously, you are in no shape to face Bison."

"That's how you dishonor the way of the warrior," Ryu said. "You have us face you one by one so that we can all be eliminated. You would never be able to face us all at once."

"Bison cares not for honor, but for practicality. This is what he does to meet his goals. This is how the tournament courses were designed."

"And by going along with it, you support him, and adopted his approaches. How can you continue calling yourself a warrior? It's becoming clearer to me that your obsession to regain your honor you lost has caused you to lose what little of it you have left. Your quest to better yourself has had the opposite effect on you."

"That's rich," Sagat said, crossing his arms, "coming from a man who only defeated me because he allowed the corrupted side of his art to take control. I wasn't the one who tapped into an external energy source."

The comment crushed Ryu, who had in the recent years fought to control this energy that threatened to consume him. It wasn't his fault that Akuma had chosen him to accept the Satsui no Hadou in his place. It wasn't his fault that the demon had toyed with Ryu, mocking him, encouraging the negative energy in him to manifest in his body and develop over the years. Ryu's first instinct was to strike out at Sagat in anger, but that would've been the wrong way to proceed with the fight, if he didn't want to end up like Chun Li. And he couldn't use the Satsui no Hadou either, for it would completely extinguish any progress he had made to control it, let alone rely on the evil energy. Yet Ryu understood that he was human before anything else, and could therefore not deny the temptation of seeing Sagat eating the ground the way he deserved it so.

"Are you going to stand and delay the fight with useless words, or finish this battle that both of us have been waiting all these years for?"

Sagat and Ryu recommenced and disappointingly, despite the higher stakes of having to save their own faces from the brief verbal exchange they shared, their performance hadn't improved much, if at all. Neither of them gave into the desperations they had shoved violently to the back of their minds, too stubborn to let it take control over their bodies.

Sagat reared back and threw a high Tiger Fireball this time. Ryu reacted quickly and crossed his arms across his face and chest where he had expected the projectile to collide with his body. He focused a small amount of his natural chi at the point of impact, cushioning the blow, deflecting the projectile. It bounced off Ryu's body and collided with a palm tree, igniting the leaves. Both warriors took a second to see the fire they had accidentally caused. With the threat the fire now posed, walking victorious from this fight would be a lot harder, maneuvering in the battle a lot trickier.

Now, while Sagat was distracted, Ryu pulled back, gathered his energy and … "Shinkuu …" shot a whole swarm of fireballs from his palms. The Muay Thai warrior had caught on a little too late, and ate the attack full force, his body writhing helplessly under at barrage of attacks. Hurt as it did, Ryu's charged projectile move wasn't able to floor Sagat. He struck the ground with his foot, kicking up a cloud of dust at Ryu.

Ryu covered his face in desperation but was unable to stop the dust from flying into his eyes, causing them to tear up and obscure his vision. Once again, the pair of them got into it, exchanging blows with more desperation this time, both of them tired, hot and dirty, both of them wanting to get their way out of the battle. Sagat's Tiger Knee was parried, as was Ryu's collarbone breaker that he countered with. Sagat's right hook, Ryu's forward kick – all missed their mark until Ryu decided to try something new. Instead of dodging and countering or blocking an attack from Sagat, what if he were to fight back with exactly what was thrown at him? Meet punches with punches, kicks with kicks, and so on. Somewhere in the background, the palm tree had completely caught aflame and crashed to the ground, its embers floating in the wind around the warriors. If If Ryu were to fight back that way, meeting Sagat's attacks with a stronger one of his own, he just might be able to firstly give his opponent the impression that he had memorized his fighting pattern, and secondly gain the upper hand in the fight.

Fists collided, feet and joints bashed mercilessly into each other. Paint shot through Ryu's bones, but he could only bite down, take it, and repeat, only this time harder than the last. He would've normally dropped right there, his body experiencing too much pain to let him go on, but what drove Ryu was the fact that it was working. Sagat began looking unsure of what he was doing, since Ryu was mirroring every one of his moves. The first few mirrors had only been a fluke of Ryu correctly guessing what Sagat was going to do next. But Sagat now looked uneasy, like no matter what he did, Ryu would be able to counter. It was only a matter of time before his moves became obvious, easy to predict, his battle prowess limited to predictability coming upon him from distraction, his uncertainty.

Smoke filled the air around them, limiting the oxygen supply. Flames licked the grass at their feet – not even the ground was catching fire. The sky took on a color of orange and blood red, partly from the evening air, partly from the fire and the smoke it emitted. Suddenly, Chun Li's unconscious body caught his attention, about to be consumed by the flames surrounding it. Now was the time to finish the fight before Chun Li burned to death, and Ryu and Sagat collapsed out of the lack of oxygen.

"Shinkuu …" Ryu jumped just as Sagat was coming towards him with a Tiger Knee, his body launching through the air for Ryu. "Tatsumaki" Ryu kicked out his leg and spun his body with such force that Sagat was pulled into the barrage of kicks, his head thrown left and right as Ryu's leg struck him in various parts of the body. "Sempuu Kyaku!" The execution lasted only about a full second, but Ryu could feel the extent of the damage it dealt to his opponent.

Ryu was in such a rush, he didn't even let Sagat's body hit the ground before he was off, running towards Chun Li who still lay on the ground. He missed the crash of Sagat's body colliding with the grass as he bent down and scooped Chun Li up in his arms. Her sleeping face was covered in dirt, blood, sweat, and now a little ash. Her dark hair hung in damp clumps from her head. Ryu started his long walk from the battleground.

When he was far enough away, he set Chun Li back down and turned to go back for Sagat. Killing the Muay Thai warrior hadn't been part of Ryu's plan. Only defeating him was. But just as Ryu took the first step, he felt a wall of dark energy in front of him, now allowing him to proceed any further. He spun around, feeling a presence behind him and nearly choked on his own tongue in surprise.

There was no mistaking the large black cape, the red and silver armor on the Shadowlaw dictator. One clenched fist swam painlessly in a flickering purple flame. His booted feet floated above the grass. And from underneath the brim of his sat, two white, pupil-less eyes glared at him.

"Bison …"


	37. Chapter 31:Domestic Rumble

**Osaka, Japan**

Kenny had never felt darkness before the way he had now, not even when the Shadow Technology was within his body. It was so thick, so suffocating, it was almost as if he could reach out and touch it with his fingertips. It sucked the air from his lungs, immobilized him, and threw off his sense of balance. Kenny struggled to hold onto his consciousness, knowing that Cranky lay sleeping outside on the patio, completely unaware of the events transpiring, completely vulnerable to a surprise attack from the demon who called itself Akuma.

He stumbled to the sliding glass door leading to the patio, struggling to breathe while Akuma's words echoed in his head.

"_Ryu_ _wa doko iru?_" (Where is Ryu?). He spoke in Japanese, a Kenny's mother tongue, though it had been years since he used his skills to the fullest. Yet he had retained enough to understand completely what Akuma asked of him. But the task at hand wasn't responding to the demon's questions. Kenny's priority was getting to Cranky, to wake him and bring the danger to his attention.

Kenny reached the glass door and struggled to get it open. But he felt an invisible force grab the back collar of his shirt, pull him back, and slam his head into glass – once, twice, and the third time was the hardest. His head rebounded with such force that his body fell backwards, onto the littered coffee table. The table, unable to support his weight and its impact, had its legs snap out from under it, sending the furnishing to the carpeted floor with a resounding crash.

His head was spinning, the darkness obscured his vision, and an unbelievable pain throbbed in his head.

"_Tsutaerou!"_ (Tell me!) Akuma's voice repeated. Kenny felt something pick him up and he hovered like a rag doll in the air for a second, and suddenly felt his body sailing into the wall plaster. He made contact with his upper back, producing a gaping hole – a sore sight for any visitor if the room hadn't been so dark. He fell onto the futon this time, upturning the seat, letting it collapse on his beaten body.

Kenny stole a quick glance to the door and saw Cranky, finally awake, banging frantically on the glass surface. Why wasn't he able to get in? Kenny hadn't locked it behind him. He suddenly remembered the most recent attack in the hospital, where some kind of invisible force kept the door knob from turning, imprisoning him and Ryu in the recovery ward at least temporarily until the demon had left. It was probably the same force at work here. Who was this Akuma, anyway? What kind of supernatural forces did he have under his command? Would the Shadow Technology be of any use against it? Not that it mattered, anyway. Kenny no longer had it inside of him and for the first time in his life, he wished he did.

"Who are you?" Kenny asked weakly. "Why are you after Ryu? What does any of this have to do with me?"

"_Anta no ki wo kanjiteta,"_ (I sensed your aura), Akuma explained. "There is a dark, residual energy leaving your body. And I foolishly mistook you for being Ryu. But now I can see you are anything but. The Satsui no Hadou does not reside in your body."

"It never has!" Kenny continued. "You've wasted your time coming here!"

"Not quite …" A humanoid form materialized in front of Kenny, who still lay pinned under the overturned futon. The form bent down and grabbed Kenny by the throat, and held it up to face his own. "You are the boy who was with Ryu earlier. I have a score to settle with him, and he has run off on me. I don't take kindly to cowardice. And that's why you _will _tell me where he is."

"Kenny!" Cranky cried frantically from outside. He started pounding mercilessly on the glass door, blow after blow. The glass shook, but did not break. Kenny hardly noticed, feeling the air supply to his longs being slowly extinguished by Akuma's tight grip on his throat.

"You will tell me," Akuma threatened, "if you don't wish to die. Remember _boy_, this battle does not have to involve you."

Kenny tried to speak, but only a suffocated gasp escaped from his lips. Suddenly, they heard a thundering crash and when Akuma turned to look, spotted Cranky falling into the room, the glass having been shattered into little cubes. A chair from Kenny's bistro set tumbled in and came to rest against the opposite wall, denting it.

**XXXXX**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

"Bison," Ryu hissed hatefully at the sight of the evil Shadowlaw dictator floating, somehow, half a foot off the ground. Powerful arms were crossed over his chest. The small, black rim of his beret hid his lifeless eyes in a jet black shadow with the fading sunlight. The wind shipped dust and dead leaves around him, forming what looked like a vortex that he stood in the center of. Ryu could feel, more than see the lightly purple-tinged aura emanating from his body.

"I must say I'm a little disappointed in you, warrior," Bison said. "I wasn't expecting you to have such a hard time defeating a mere tool like Sagat. Or perhaps you were motivated by desperation and rage – like the little doll lying at our feet." He nodded his head at Chun Li, lying beaten and unconscious just a few feet away. "Don't tell me I've been wasting my time pursuing a hot-headed street fighter. Seems like your name has surpassed your capabilities."

"Perhaps, then, you'd like a demonstration," Ryu shot back, his calm voice tinted with a suppressed hostility.

"I would," Bison replied, to Ryu's surprise. I want you to show me your true strength." He shook his head. "Because … this just can't be all you have to offer, especially after all my efforts to bring your potential out of you."

"Your … efforts?"

"Julian's attack on Ken. The car crash with Guile that Wagner induced. Friends attempting destroy the lives of those they love, of people who mean everything to you." Bison smirked. From the mysterious life Ryu led, it was obvious to the world that he couldn't have many close friends, which meant the ones he did, he held onto closely. And to take that away would surely bring out the Satsui no Hadou coursing through the Shotokan warrior's veins, a power that Bison hoped to harness with Ryu's involvement in the Street Fighter tournaments.

Ryu's anger flared. "All of that was … was because of me?" he asked, devastated by the news. Shadowlaw seemed to have a knack for capitalizing on agony, emotional or physical, in any of their given missions. Before making any moves, they studied their victims well, and attacked their weaknesses at full force. And Ryu's weakness – his loved ones.

"No, not all of it," Bison sneered. "You may have priority in Shadowlaw's objectives, but you are by far not our only one. After all, we needed the Shadow Technology from Kenny's body in order to launch the Agent Initiative. And we know how you feel towards the maltreatment of innocents. Two birds with one stone."

"And all of this was so I could show you my potential? What would that mean to a power hungry dictator like you?"

"Power," Bison replied smartly. He studied Ryu's face for some kind of reaction and was annoyed when all that he saw was confusion. "Don't insult my intelligence. I know you know what I want from you."

"I've been fighting to control the Satsui no Hadou since the third tournament of the Alpha rounds," Ryu said. "You can forget about getting it from me. It's gone. Your efforts have been in vain, Bison."

"Your demon friend might disagree."

"Akuma? How do you know about …"

"The man might be more an enigma than human, but not even he can escape the eyes and ears of my organization. When keeping track of the Shadow Technology – Kenny's – movements, we were met with much interference of a much more potent source on the same energy level. I'm sure you understand the concept of people's life force, Ryu, otherwise you'd never be able to throw a single hadouken. You are aware – though life forces come in limitless variation, good and evil forces are always distinguishable from one another. The interference we met was of the same consistency as the Shadow Technology, though alien in source."

"It could've been anything else. Why would you have assumed Akuma?"

"Because there's nothing else outside of Shadowlaw more powerful than the Shadow Technology. We sense it in Akuma, and we also sense it in you, Ryu. Don't try to hide the facts from me. The power is very much alive in your body – and I want that power!"

"You won't take it," Ryu said, resting his weight on his back leg, putting himself at a defensive position.

"Oh, I don't intend to take it right now," Bison said smugly. "I may not be a street fighter like you, but I have a sense of honor. I will defeat you in the heat of battle, and then take the Satsui no Hadou power from your body. And I want you at your best performance. That won't happen until you rest. Besides, how do you hope to resist me now in the shape you're in?"

Ryu couldn't answer as he stared back defiantly at Bison. But the dictator was right. Ryu was too worn out from the fight with Sagat to perform properly in battle. And Bison wanted to take the Satsui no Hadou from him in the most humiliating way possible. Ryu invited the challenge, though he didn't verbalize it. He could tell Bison could see his answer through his eyes.

"I will see you over there," Bison said, pointing towards a temple in the distance, the shapes of its curved roofs and pinnacles interrupting the gentle curves of the distant hills, "at noon. That's when the final round is to take place. I'll be waiting."

Bison's body disappeared, or more accurately, seemed to fold in on itself and disappear from reality entirely, making Ryu wonder if the conversation he just had was shared by him and his imagination only. But Bison's words were too real, too sinister for Ryu to have thought them up completely on his own.

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw** **Base**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Issei stood motionless watching the barrels of the semi-automatic weapons pointed directly at him, ready to shoot if he so much as moved a muscle. Hell, they were probably going to shoot him for defecting from the organization anyway. He looked at Genta, the fifteen year old street kid from Osaka who had trained directly under Issei, and immediately regretted what he had done to the youngster's mind. As much as Issei hated to admit it though he was well aware, he wasn't clear headed enough to have bore the responsibilities over Genta's mind as he did. In fact, as far as Issei knew, his mind had only just been cleared as of a few days ago from all of Shadowlaw's brainwashing he'd underwent all these years.

Genta smiled upon seeing the expression of hopelessness upon his former sensei's face. "Imagine how high I will climb in Shadowlaw's ranks if I were to personally deliver to Master Bison the head of my own teacher," he said, licking his lips just thinking about the rewards.

"An unlikely probability," Issei retorted, "though you are welcome to try."

"Don't interfere," Genta said to the other soldiers over his shoulder, without taking his eyes off Issei. "This is a fight I

would like to take on alone."

"But, sir - that might not be the best course of action against one of Shadowlaw's legendary …" The soldier's voice was cut off as he collapsed to the ground suddenly, dead.

Issei stepped back, appalled by what he'd just witnessed. "Look at how they fear me," Genta said, opening his arms wide. "Look at the respect they display! Just about as much as anyone has ever given to you."

"What have you done to yourself, Genta?" Issei asked.

"A test of your sister's loyalty," he replied. "I played the role of one of your foolishly loyal subordinates, those of Unit 111. I asked her to hook me up to the Psycho Drive, so that I could wield the same kind of power Master Bison does. And you know what? She did, thinking I would use the Psycho Drive to help her. That proved her betrayal to Shadowlaw. She had no idea that it was Master Bison himself who cooked up the plan. And he got one more soldier out of it. Of course, had my act been for real, I'd be dead."

"What have you done with my sister, my men?" Issei's voice trembled as he spoke, realizing with horror that Genta now wielded the Psycho Power.

"Nothing," Genta replied. "We couldn't kill Katarina right away. We had to get you to come back too! But your 'men', well, Bison had them all killed. There was no grand show, nothing. One minute they were walking along, the next, they were lying in a pool of their own blood. Don't worry, sensei. The bullet ripped a hole through their heads so fast, there's no way they could have suffered. I was the only one smart enough to denounce my loyalty to you the moment news leaked of your betrayal. How could you do this to the people who have taken care of you since you were a child?"

"That's what they want you to think, Genta," Issei insisted. "But that's far from the case. They're just using you, like they did to me."

"Oh just shut up with your righteous lies," Genta said, slapping his forehead in dismay. Quick as lightning, he pulled out a pair of Japanese sai from his boots, holding the weapons blade down. Issei recognized the style of fighting – with the blades aligning with one's forearm, a simple elbow strike would be lethal, as opposed to them pointing straight up, which would make it easier for the weapon to be hit out of the wielder's grasp. Issei took a step back, realizing his training must've been good. Either that, or Genta was a good student. In either case, Issei knew he was going to get into a fight, that could likely lead to one of their deaths – his, probably, if the guards weren't going to listen to Genta's orders.

Genta leapt forward, closing the distance between him and his former master with a single bound. Issei, in turn, took a step back to further widen the gap, narrowly avoid a hook – which would have connected with his jaw, though the blades sliced through his dark suit with ease. The fabric fell open from the tear on his left pectoral, revealing a white undershirt.

"Your heart," Genta hissed, "white marks the spot."

Issei ripped the covering off his face, allowing Genta to see his expression. The youth was quite a bit smaller compared to him in size and build. Where Issei was tall, heavily built and had the stamina of a cheetah, Genta was a head shorter, leaner, and possibly faster. And Issei hoped this difference and his cool, emotionless expression, his readiness to kill at any given moment, would scare the boy off. He didn't want to have to do it, but if he had no choice, Genta would by a corpse at his feet in a few minutes – maybe even sooner.

"Don't forget, Sensei," Genta said, though now he used the respectful term with such sarcasm that it sounded like an insult, "I lived my life on Osaka's streets by killing people without batting an eye. Don't think you're any different than everyone else. Traitors are worse than innocents in my eyes."

Genta spun around for a heavy back fist, but Issei swatted his hand away like it was hardly more than a buzzing fly. Genta spun in the opposite direction, feigning another punch. When Issei ducked low to avoid it, the youth raised his leg instead, smashing his knee in to his master's face, then followed through by extending his leg into a full kick, hitting Issei a second time. The ex-admiral reeled back, paying no attention to the trail of blood now slowly making its way down the side of his face.

"I've give you a chance to get out of here," Issei said, "a chance to save yourself. Instead you do this. Is this really what you choose for yourself, Genta?"

The youth looked at him with narrowed eyes, mouth pressed thin. Issei could almost swear he saw the youth's lower lip trembling – either with fear, or sadness, he couldn't tell. Issei continued.

"Consider your answer. If you choose to go against me, I won't hold back."

After a few seconds of silence, Genta replied. "I don't ally myself with those who betray me."

**XXXXX**

**Osaka, Japan**

Cranky charged at Akuma, cutting his feet on the glass shards as he ran, his face twisted with rage. He came down on the demon with double-fisted overhead blow. Akuma, in defense, raised an arm to block the move effortlessly. Cranky went wide eyed with shock, and ate a counterattack in the form of an uppercut to his jaw. Cranky's body was lifted into the air with the powerful force, throwing him into the television cabinet. He covered his head as the electronic device came crashing down on him, taking with it a pile of carelessly stacked CDs and video cassettes. Cranky rolled back onto his feet as if the collision had done nothing to bruise him, picked up the TV without missing a beat, and hurled it across the room at Akuma. The demon didn't exactly dodge the flying projectile, not did he block it. Instead, his body seemed to fizzle out – if only for a split second, to allow the TV to fly through him, and rematerialize as soon as it had passed.

Having Akuma's attention taken off him, Kenny took a few seconds to allow the air to reflow back into his lungs, and gathered the energy to kick the futon off him. He stood up to face Akuma's back, who had busied himself with Cranky. The brothers made brief eye contact while Kenny gave a firm nod and dashed off to his bedroom while Akuma hadn't been paying attention.

"You want him," Cranky said, while Akuma hissed back in retaliation, "then you're gonna have to kill me first."

"That can be arranged." Akuma headed for Cranky, devilish eyes glowing red, sadistic, fang-baring grin spreading across his face.

"Come and get me you ugly mother," Cranky taunted, raising his fists, waiting for Akuma to close the distance between them.

"Shun Goku Satsu!" Akuma suddenly warped with great speed towards Cranky, taking him by surprise and grabbed onto his collar. Before the demon could deliver his first lethal blow, he froze and released his would-be victim, clutching unsuccessfully at the area between his shoulder blades.

Cranky snapped out of his daze to see Kenny standing at the opposite end of the room, arms by his side, feet just a little more than shoulder width apart, breathing heavily. Blood was running down the youth's forehead as he gasped for air. Then he spotted the kitchen knives, each held between his fingers. As Akuma turned around, roaring in agony, Cranky saw a knife handle sticking out from his back.

"And there's more where that came from, bitch!" Kenny shouted, and hurled another blade.

"Holy shit, Kenny, wait!" Cranky held his hands out to stop his adoptive brother but was too late. The blade had been thrown. Akuma had dodged, and so did Cranky, but not far enough for the knife to avoid slicing the side of his arm. Cranky clutched at the wound and hissed through tightly clenched teeth, feeling the blood seep through.

Kenny had a look of horror on his face for what he'd done, which gave Akuma the opening he needed to attack the youth. Kenny was ready to meet the demon head on, but before a single punch could be thrown, Akuma had warped around behind him, seized Kenny's arms, and pushed him forward with a kick, landing him face first on the floor. As soon as Kenny was down, Akuma delivered a devastating stomp to his lower back.

"AAGGGHH!" the youth cried, tears streaming down his face.

"You are wounded here, aren't you?" Akuma said, digging his heel downwards with more pressure. "You've put yourself in his predicament. This could've been avoided if you-"

Cranky threw himself at Akuma, wrapped his arms around the demon's waist, using his weight advantage to take both men down to the floor. The two of them grappled for a moment, but it was brief, as Akuma jabbed the ball of his foot into Cranky's abdomen and threw the scrambling amateur fighter off him. Cranky hit the ground and rolled out of it, lessening the impact somewhat, but was still hurt by it. He'd need at least a few seconds to recuperate.

By then, Kenny had rolled to his feet, and drew out a pair of handguns, one in each hand. A single kitchen knife hadn't managed to take out the demon. If it wasn't clear Akuma wasn't human, it was now. But hopefully, he retained some form of his mortality, and a couple of bullets just might be able to do the trick. Akuma came in fast, and came down low. Kenny jumped, rebounded off the demon's shoulders, and somersaulted, pulling the triggers as he went. Deafening gun shots echoed throughout the building. Cranky dashed for cover, having learned a thing or two about Kenny's aim from his knife throwing.

The youth landed on his feet, though a little unstably from the agony that radiated from his lower back. He wasn't sure if his kidneys would ever be the same again. One of the shots had hit Akuma squarely in the shoulder, causing it to spurt dark blood, but the other passed right through him as he caught onto what was happening.

"I can't fire in a row," Kenny told himself. "I've got to shoot sporadically, so he can't predict when the next shot will come. Make it so he won't know when to avoid it."

"Use the Shadow Tech shit, Kenny!" Cranky ordered, as he pounced on Akuma and held the demon in a headlock.

"I can't!" Kenny protested. "It's gone!"

Akuma reached behind him and fired a purple hued projectile into Cranky's face, point blank. The force threw him off the demon's body, again into the wall and onto his knees. "No!" Cranky pressed, blood spewing from his lips, his eye swelling shut, his red hair in a tangled mess on his head. "It's still there – just dying!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kenny cried as he was narrowly missed by Akuma's fist, plunging into the wall. As the demon pulled it out from the hole in the wall he just made, Kenny tumbled to the side, fired a bullet into Akuma's back, and took a leap backwards to avoid any immediate counter attack.

Cranky seized a lampshade, swinging it around his shoulders and over his head like it was a staff, knocking Akuma in the chest and face with a few well placed shots. Akuma was only stunned, but nowhere out of the fight. Meanwhile, the struggle was starting to take a toll on the brothers, who gradually found it harder and harder to keep going. The only thing driving the both of them was to protect themselves and each other against Akuma, and hopefully not have to disclose Ryu's whereabouts.

"How do you think you were able to pull Guile from the car crash?" Cranky asked. "He's 6'2" and built like a fucking tank! You're a 5'5" 125 pound runt!"

"Hey - "

"It's still in you, Kenny. Use it!" Akuma had yanked his fist from the wall, picked up Cranky, forcing him to drop the lampshade and threw him back onto the ground at his feet. He stepped on Cranky's chest, using it as a launch pad, and jumped for Kenny, who tumbled away in sheer panic. There was no time to figure out to use whatever was left of the Shadow Technology inside him _and_ fight Akuma simultaneously.

Caught up in the moment, unsure of exactly what he could Kenny seized up, and was barely able to escape Akuma's clutches while the demon pursued him like a feral beast. All he could do was put large pieces of furniture between himself and the threat, duck under high blows and leap over low ones, while his mind struggled to formulate some kind of plan.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Akuma seized his shirt by the collar and slammed him into the wall, holding Kenny up there with a single arm, while the other formed a fist shrouded by a dark, purple aura. This was it. Kenny was about to die without ever using his abilities to their full potential. He had survived for seven years on Tokyo's streets, one in Angel Grove, California, two months in zombie infested Raccoon City, and three months on an isolated training facility off the south pacific run by a sadistic madman, only to meet his end at the fist of Akuma, Shotokan demon. Kenny squeezed his eyes shut, praying that the end would come quick and mercilessly, and waited … and waited … When he dared open his eyes, he realized that he'd been dropped and was now sitting on the floor. His gaze scanned the room, to see Cranky still lying on the ground, wheezing to catch his breath from fatigue, and the vicious stomp previously received from Akuma. And speaking of that crazy devil, where was he …?

His question was answered just as he was thinking it up, seeing Akuma struggling with two people – two initial strangers who Kenny could barely make out visually. But now that the darkness had somewhat receded when it swirled to materialized into Akuma's physical embodiment – red hair, dark skin, bulky build dressed in a black karate uniform with torn sleeves – Kenny could see a little better.

The man who held onto Akuma's left arm, holding it back, had dark hair and olive skin, dressed in a wife-beater with a sleek, toned build, seemed to look more appropriate in a Catholic priest's robe with a rosary draped around his fingers. His normally peaceful, God-fearing face was now strained and glistening with sweat, a single lock of black hair hanging down his forehead. The other was of similar size and build as Cranky, only blond-haired, square-jawed and clean cut. He wore the same expression as the first, both of them fighting to keep Akuma under control, who roared defiantly as he struggled to throw the both of them off him.

"Father Marquez!" Kenny cried, recognizing the gentle, friendly priest he had come to know and love from his occasional (very occasional) visits to the church. "Get out of here! It's not safe!"

"He ain't a priest, Kenny," the blonde man who was clearly Wagner explained through clenched teeth. "He can handle this freak. As for you, _you _hurry and get the hell out of here!"

Cranky struggled to his feet, stumbling towards Kenny. "The Shadow Technology," he repeated, "use it. It feeds off external sources of energy to power the body, right? Feed it with the demon's energy. Weaken him with it, but don't hold on to his energy. Who knows what it'll do to you."

"But …"

"Listen to Cranky, my son," Father Julian Marquez advised. Sure, it wasn't exactly him anymore, nor was it ever in his personality to talk like that in the first place. It had all been an act. But Kenny hadn't yet understood, and Julian was sure as hell not going to take the time now to explain it. The fake Catholic priest persona would have to continue just a little longer. "I've faced this mockery of God in the past. Cranky knows what he's talking about!"

Kenny shook his head, about to break under the pressure. "Can't we just beat him up!"

"We can't. You're the only one who can weaken him, Kenny! He's going to find Ryu in a matter of time, whether we tell him or not. At least we can earn Ryu some more time if you'd just do this. You're the only one!"

"But I …"

"You guys, watch out!" Father Julian Marquez cried, as Akuma ripped his arm from his grasp. He grabbed after it, but was met in the brow with an elbow. Having an arm freed, Akuma reached over Wagner's head and performed a shoulder throw, tossing the young airman into Cranky. Their bodies crashed into each other, flooring them both in an instant.

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw** **Base**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Katarina woke up to see a familiar face looking worriedly down at her. She couldn't see properly, though she could feel her eyes wide open. It was probably just her vision adjusting to … wait a second, where were her glasses. But she didn't need those things to be able to tell who it was, and the expression they wore.

"Dorian," she said gently, stroking the side of his smooth face, "w … what happened."

"They're fighting outside," he boy whispered to her. His brows were creased with worry, his voice barely at conversation level. Katarina forced herself to sit up and fought off a wave of nausea. Dorian crawled into her arms and buried his face into her chest. She held him tightly, letting him feel her heartbeat, and rocked back and forth slowly. While she cradled him, feeling his small body tremble with fright, she whispered reassuring words, but looked over her shoulder towards the door.

There was a blonde woman lying against the door, her weight keeping it open, allowing the dim lighting from outside to spill into the cell. Katarina recognized her as one of the janitorial workers who'd spent a lot of time down here. She was suspicious of this janitor, who she had seen passing by her cell and looking into it at her and Dorian on more than one occasion. It was also the same janitor who looked at her strangely the day Katarina had arrived in tow behind Bison – the only Shadowlaw servant to remove her gaze from the ground when she was supposed to be bowing with respect, and raised it into Katarina's own, though she pretended not to notice. If she had, the mere look would have caught Bison's attention too. And the janitor would've been killed on the spot. Whether or not this stupid, blonde, lowly worker knew of that fact or not didn't matter. But Katarina had earned her another chance and hoped she would learn quickly if she wanted to remain alive.

Outside, just beyond the open door, Katarina spotted shadows dancing in the dim light, and the sounds of voices. Though she couldn't make out what they were saying, one of them was clearly Aaron, her brother. His voice was a comfort to her, especially in a predicament like this. But she wanted to be sure it was him.

"Dorian," she whispered quietly into the boy's ear, "who opened the door for us?"

"Aaron's hear," he said, "just like you said he would be. He came to get us out of here!"

"And what happened to the woman?" Katarina continued, motioning to the unconscious woman holding the door open with her body.

"I don't know," Dorian replied honestly, "but I think she's Aaron's friend."

Katarina smiled, understanding that ever-resourceful Aaron Feng had managed to find accomplices outside Shadowlaw fighting for the same thing he was. That explained why she had showed such an interest with Katarina! She ex-Shadowlaw scientist had no idea who she was, but she had to be a friend if she'd allied herself with Aaron. "She looks like she could use some help," Katarina said, spotting the pool of blood forming around her body. She motioned for Dorian to release her. "I'm going to help that lady. You stay right here, and don't move, okay?" The boy nodded earnestly and stayed put. Katarina crawled over to the blonde woman silently, hoping not to get the attention of whoever it was fighting outside.

The blonde woman panicked as Katarina pressed a piece of fabric ripped from her knee length skirt on her wound. She then winced in pain, but Katarina held a finger to her lips, motioning for her to be quiet while she treated the wound.

"I'm not an enemy," she whispered, "I'm a friend. Who are you?"

"L…Luwanda," came the reply, "from Delta Red. I've been sent here to keep our force notified on your condition at the request of Aaron Feng, your brother."

"How was it that he was able to bring himself to your attention?" Katarina asked while she continued tying the bandage around Luwanda's waist. The patient was wincing in pain, but trying her hardest to keep it together so Katarina could do her job properly. She replied through clenched teeth.

"He approached Wolfman," she explained. "We have a member from our force working in tandem with some of the tournament's participants, the same participants whom Aaron approached. According to that member, Kenny is somehow linked to Aaron, which was why Wolfman agreed to help in the investigation – YOUR investigation."

"Kenny's our brother," Katarina said, a touch of regret in her voice. "We just found out about him, though under these circumstances, we've yet to sit down and have a chat with him."

"Small world … _ouch_ could you not press so hard, please? It's fucking killing me."

"It has to hurt, otherwise you'll bleed to death."

"Fantastic," Luwanda said sarcastically.

"How did you get this stab wound?"

"That little shit Aaron's fighting right now got me while I had my back turned. I was too curious as to how you and your brother would react to each other, too curious to see if I identified you as the right person. I found out, alright, and its cost me about a pint of blood now."

"You took your eyes off your surroundings?"

"Shut up, it's not like I'm not kicking myself for it right now."

"There, you should be as good as new," Katarina said, stepping away from Luwanda, rising to her feet. But that was a mistake, as the Shadowlaw soldiers had spotted her. Aaron turned to notice his sister conscious, alive and well, albeit a little bruised.

"Kat!" he called, relief washing over his features.

"Aaron, watch out!" she cried, but her warning came too late. His pupil, who Katarina recognized as Genta, the crazy Osaka street boy taken in by Shadowlaw, performed a hook kick that connected with the back of his skull, sending her brother floor-ward at a bone-fracturing pace. He softened the impact by putting his hands out to cushion the fall, but Genta had punted him in the face, knocking the ex-Shadowlaw Admiral back up to his feet. Aarons face was coated with a sick mixture of dried and fresh blood, though his fury still shone through his gaze.

"Shoot her!" Genta ordered while tackling his former master.

The Shadowlaw guards raised their AK-47s and fired off continuous rounds in Katarina's direction. But she was already on her way by then, having ducked down low, and hurtling her body towards them, feet first. "Spiral Arrow!" she cried, traveling under the bullets that whizzed overhead. She collided with the shins of one soldier, throwing him off his feet. The other was about to counter attack when Katarina launched her body skyward with an upwards thrust kick. "Cannon Spike!" The guard's skull was crushed against the stone ceiling and he dropped to the floor, lifeless or unconscious, she couldn't tell, and didn't care.

The final guard attacked her with a knife, but that was a mistake on his part. Katarina wasn't an expert when it came to dodging bullets, but she had trained with a knife under her brother's instructions before. Plus, the thirteen units of Shadowlaw's Doll program were each trained in a specific weapon. Watching them train had taught her a thing or two about how to wield a blade, and how to avoid getting hit by one.

The soldier trust the blade at her, aiming to gut her alive, but Katarina sidestepped and kicked up her heel, knocking the knife out of the soldiers hand, swiping it out of the air, blade down. She pointed the weapon at the soldier who reached clumsily for his firearm, instead finding his hand pinned to the wall with the knife through his open palm. The soldier gripped at his wrist with his free hand and screamed in agony, but wasn't able to pull the knife out. He could only stand and scream while Katarina looked at him with a sadistic smile across her face. She thought about killing him, but enjoyed the idea of leaving him there to suffer, and lead the rest of his life with one useless appendage. That would be more torture than death could ever bring.

She turned around to see Genta on top over her brother, trying to drive a knife down into his chest, where the dark material of his night suit had ripped, revealing his white undershirt and just a few inches under that, his beating heart. Genta had his knees on Aaron's stomach, his upper body bent over his arms holding the knife down, leaning his full weight upon it. Aaron, on the other hand, had no problems holding up Genta's weight and upper body strength combined, keeping the blade from his body with his arms. He was strong enough to lift Genta off his body and throw him skyward. Genta sailed like a rag doll towards Katarina, who took a side step and let the youth crash to the ground, the knife scuttling out of his reach. Before he could reclaim it, Katarina bend down and retrieved the weapon.

"Little boys shouldn't be playing with sharp objects," she said, as if speaking to a child, and she enjoyed the look of annoyance in his expression. Genta struggled to his feet but was unsuccessful, as he noticed the handgun sitting in Aaron's hand, pointed at his forehead.

Katarina looked at her brother's face, and immediately read his mixed emotions. He seemed to legitimately care about Genta's well-being, yet he knew he'd always preached to his young pupil to never show mercy to an enemy who could one day turn around and stab you in the back. There was no honor among bad guys. She looked at her brother intensely, wondering how much he'd changed in the last few days, after finding out about their past and about Kenny. Where they really one of the good guys now? Would Aaron show the mercy to an opponent that Issei never would have?

"Kill me!" Genta cried. "Isn't that what you always told me to do? I'm a threat to you! If you let me live, I'll come back and kill everything you hold dear! Kill me, you motherfucking son of a bitch! DO IT!" But the more the youth yelled, the more Aaron's expression softened, the more his hand trembled, threatening to drop the gun.

Aaron finally dropped his arm, but held his gaze. "I feel sorry for you," he said simply, "deciding to stay with a doomed organization. If you ever trusted me in your life, Genta, you know what I'm telling you is the truth, and I would never want this fate to befall you. But you're choosing this for yourself."

"You betrayed us," Genta spewed. "You treated me like I was your own son, and then you turn your back on this entire organization and stab us in the back. How the hell do you think we should feel? What else am I supposed to choose?" He youth was hysteric now, spittle flying as he yelled, his face red with hate.

"I know how you must feel," Aaron said, looking shamefully down at the ground. "And living your whole life with Shadowlaw, you find it hard to see them in a different light. But I'd never lie to you, not about something this important, Genta."

"I'll kill you, you bitch!" the youth continued yelling. "If you let me continue living my life now, I swear to God …"

"He's unstable," someone said behind Aaron, as he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. Aaron had spoke to his voice numerous times over the phone, but he'd never met Colonel Wolfman of Delta Red before. But right now, he didn't care to know what the good Colonel looked like, focusing instead on the hysteric youth throwing a tantrum right in front of him.

Katarina approached Aaron calmly, ignoring Genta. "Let him get it out," she said. "Whether or not he chooses to leave Shadowlaw, we don't have say in it. He knows the company's doomed. Let him do with that knowledge what he might. Hell, let him come after us." She looked at Genta, and at the Shadowlaw soldier still in utter agony, his hand pinned to the wall with a knife through his palm. "He knows the kind of force with we fight back with."

She headed back towards the cell, seeing Dorian staring back up at her with his clear blue eyes. "Is it safe to come out, yet?" he asked so sweetly, Katarina felt her heart break in her chest. She didn't know where the tears came from, but could only make educated stabs at it. Maybe it was the fact that this kid was so damned cute, with such a pure and innocent heart that he didn't deserve to be in a place like this. Or maybe it was that he'd been rescued from a fate that her and Aaron hadn't been lucky enough to, that it was because of them that this cycle had been broken.

She took Dorian by the hand. "I think so," she said. Standing a few feet down the hallway, Luwanda was leaning against a large man sitting somewhere between incredibly muscular and fat. His chubby face was round like a boy's, while a red beret capped his bald head.

"Nice to meet you, miss," he said blushing, as he shouldered Luwanda, "the name's McCoy, Delta Red Special Forces."

"Later, McCoy," Luwanda hissed before Katarina could introduce herself. "I'm in a little need of assistance right now!"

"Come on, Aaron," Wolfman said, leading him away from Genta, who had collapsed onto the ground now, having lost the fight. He looked delirious with rage, curled up into a ball on the ground, wide eyes staring blankly ahead of him, muttering repeatedly, "I'll kill you, I'll fucking kill you, and everything you hold dear, I'll kill you, everything you hold dear …"

The words couldn't leave Aaron's mind as he walked away. Everything he held dear? Katarina was all he had right now, but she could easily defended himself against a teenager like Genta. So why was Aaron still feeling so uneasy? Something else dear to him? Who could he be forgetting?

**XXXXX**

**Osaka, Japan**

"Kenny!" Cranky yelled, gasping for air, "Are you listening to me?"

"S…sorry, Crank," the teen replied suddenly, "I just sorta zoned out. It's all the pressure, I think …"

"I said, do you remember how to use the Shadow Technology?"

"I thought you told me," the youth replied, equally tired, "that it was never up to me to employ it, that it'd always just come whenever it felt like it."

The conversation had to be quick. Wagner and Julian could only engage Akuma for so long. At present, they were both trading blows with the demon, each fighter taking one side of him. Kenny stared curiously at Father Marquez.

"Seems like everyone's a fighter nowadays," he said.

"There's a lot you don't know about Father Marquez," Cranky said, "now listen to me. I'm going to take Akuma on, and Marquez and Wagner are going to help me hold him back for you. All I need you to do is go up to him and do whatever the hell you can to take as much of that energy out of him as possible. Can you do that for us, Kenny?"

"I …I can try," he said, his voice trembling. "But I can't promise anything though."

"I know you can't," Cranky replied. "But as long as you'll try – that's what we've got everything riding on right now." Cranky took the lampshade he wielded moments ago and threw it like a spear towards Julian. Somehow, the faux-priest had anticipated it, and snatched it out of mid-air, pinning the demon's arm to the wall.

Akuma attempted retaliation by swinging his other arm at the back of Julian's head, but was stopped by Wagner's open hand. The young airman seized the demon by the wrist and twisted it painfully behind his back. Despite being held by two powerful men, Akuma somehow found the strength to resist, spinning around while Wagner and Julian still held on for dear life. It became obvious that they needed a third man to help restrain him for Kenny.

"I'm going," Cranky announced. "Prepare yourself, Kenny!"

He dashed up to Akuma and launched himself on the demon's back, putting him in a sleeper hold. Akuma's knees began to tremble as he continued struggling to hold on to his balance while the three men piled on top of him.

"Get him to hurry up," Julian urged, holding onto the lampshade with Akuma's arm curled around it. "I can only hold on for so long!"

"Do it, Kenny, come on!" Wagner urged, straining through clenched teeth.

Kenny took a split second to behold the sight before him. There was the demon, the embodiment of evil threatening Ryu's life, a creature that meant nothing but death and destruction to those who resisted it. Kenny's battle was with Shadowlaw, but if this creature was looking for Ryu to kill him, that his battle was with Akuma as well. Ryu was off in Thailand bringing an end to Shadowlaw, taking care of Kenny's problems, and could find no way to repay him. Now he could. He could take care of Ryu's problem.

Father Julian Marquez, a man who had guided Kenny regularly, though for a short period of time during his stay in Osaka thus far, was restraining the demon for him with the help of Wagner, the young airman son of Colonel William Guile who had helped spring him from Shadowlaw's cells. And clinging onto Akuma's back, holding his head in a sleeper hold was Cranky, Kenny's adoptive brother, the only real family the youth ever had who'd given so much of his concern and care so unselfishly to Kenny. If there was one thing he could do to repay these people, to help everyone that had helped him sofar in his life, this was it.

Something took control of Kenny at that moment, and he had no way of pinning it down. He could only explain it as what Ryu did to wake him up at the hospital – a chi transfer. Kenny suddenly felt fatigued, as if all the life of his body had been sucked from it, though he attributed it to whatever was left of the Shadow Technology dying inside him. As if he'd commanded it, a purple energy suddenly engulfed Akuma's body and began flowing away towards Kenny, into his fingertips which he realized only now that they were outstretched.

Intense pain radiated through his body from where the aura of the Satsui no Hadou met with his body as the weak Shadow Technology struggled to absorb it and failed. His vision was starting to fade, but he was able to make out Akuma sinking to his knees. Kenny felt the evil, alien energy coursing through his veins, trying to make a new home for itself inside his body, but he refused, casting it out as soon as he felt the last remnants of the Shadow Technology die. It was a strange feeling, like literally losing a part of oneself. It felt like a huge lump of matter within him was dying, something that wasn't supposed to be there finally leaving. Kenny's head began to spin, and he started to lose his balance.

"There," he heard Wagner say, though his voice sounded as if it were miles away, "now Akuma will never get to Ryu in Thailand."

"Wagner, NO!" he heard Julian and Cranky cry in protest!

That was the last thing Kenny heard before the darkness overtook him. He never even felt his body fall.


	38. Chapter 32: Before the Storm

**Underground**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

The trek through Shadowlaw's intricate systems of underground tunnels was uncomfortable to say the least, with the humid air from outside cooling down as it blew through the network. The path on which they trudged was made up of gravel and sharp rock, threatening to slice up the soles of their shoes. The Delta Red members were clad in their combat boots, providing adequate protection against the rocks, as was Aaron. But Dorian was barefoot, having been kept in the prison cells for however long now, he probably decided there'd be little use for them during his stay. The boy now sat in the crook of Aaron's arm, Dorian's thin arms wrapped around his neck, leaning his chin on the soldier's shoulder, slowly being lulled to sleep by the gentle bobbing of his strides.

Dorian had calmed down remarkably since the battle with Genta ended. His heartbeat seemed normal down, his breathing slower, the nervous sweat dried onto his face. Katarina walked behind them, under one of McCoy's arms thrown over her shoulder. The other held Luwanda up, limping and wincing with every step she took. Katarina had done everything she could at the time to bandage the woman up, but without further medical attention, the wound would likely give her problems in a few hours.

Colonel Wolfman covered their asses, literally, keeping a few feet at the back of the group, keeping his eyes and rifle trained on the darkness they left behind. Covering the front, Issei had a hangun aimed, ready to fire at anything that approached. It suddenly struck him that it might not have been a smart idea carrying a sleeping Dorian while he watched out for anything that might surprise them from the front. But given that McCoy had his hand full shouldering Katarina and Luwanda, there was no other choice. And Dorian, without protection on his feet, would surely slice them up on the rocks they trudged upon.

"The sailing should be smooth from here on out," McCoy said, "though it might be quite a walk. We had to blast our way into the tunnel system from quite a distance, so as to not alert Shadowlaw's suspicions."

"And where exactly are we walking to?" Katarina inquired. She ground wasn't exactly easy on the knees. And while Katarina was killed in fighting, in the end, she was a scientist, not a warrior, and her stamina was therefore starting to give out, especially under these rougher conditions.

"The entrance," Wolfman replied, still keeping his eyes on the darkness behind them. "There's a chopper there waiting for us."

"And if Shadowlaw finds it?" Aaron asked.

"Unlikely," Wolfman replied. "We've got it camouflaged. But in such an event, Ginzu will defend it."

"Ginzu," Aaron said out loud, "that's your intelligence specialist, isn't it?"

"That he is, and a real good one at that."

"He might be, but how trained is he with firearms?"

Katarina noticed that Wolfman looked hurt by the question, that someone would be unsure of Delta Red's skills and their flexibility. But he didn't make anything of it with his response. "Adequate."

"Enough to hold them at bay?" Aaron pressed.

Luwanda and McCoy tensed up, sensing a storm brewing, a clashing of egos. Wolfman was the leader of Delta Red, the special forces unit _within_ the British special forces, experienced in missions involving search and rescue, anti-terrorism, and hostage situations. He was as lethal with a butter knife as he would be a rocket launcher, and there didn't seem a way he that he would let some recently gone good Shadowlaw terrorist question his abilities. As far as Luwanda and McCoy were concerned, when it came to Wolfman's way of thinking, Aaron and Katarina Feng were still considered Shadowlaw terrorists and were to be kept a close eye on, despite their recent change of heart. Delta Red had no way of telling whether the twins' claims were true or not, but there was a possible window of opportunity that their re-alliance offered; a window of opportunity into the evil organization that not even Wolfman's distrust of the twins could afford to pass up.

"If you are so concerned about our capabilities," Wolfman said, "and wish to run off and look out for yourself, then you are more than welcomed to. Keep in mind, _soldier_, that we are under no obligation to protect you with the list of crimes attached to your name! I should think that by even allowing you to come with us …"

"Like it's some sort of privilege?" Aaron snorted. "I've encountered members of your group before and your training is questionable to put it lightly …"

"AARON!" Katarina snapped. "That's enough!"

Wolfman now faced Aaron's back, though the latter continued his disrespectful performance by now even bothering to turn around and face him.

"Why, I ought to …" Wolfman hissed, looking like he was ready to put a bullet in Aaron's back, but McCoy restrained him with reason.

"We don't need this right now, sir," he said. "You fight now, you put us all in danger." Wolfman struggled not to let his temper get the better of him. McCoy was right. Fighting now, in the circumstances they were in would be a grave mistake, given that they were surrounded by Delta Red members, that weapons were involved, and that they were in the presence of a child. Not to mention the potential Shadowlaw guards surrounding them …

It felt as though Aaron had won the little spat between the two of them, and the ex-Shadowlaw Admiral enjoyed that fact. He continued walking on, without even turning back to see if Wolfman was, at the very least, calm. Aaron didn't feel at all guilty for questioning Delta Red's capabilities, based on his experience with them in the past. They were fine unit of the British government, that was for sure. But they had never directly been involved with main Shadowlaw operations, only scientist kidnappings here and there. So they managed to foil a plan or two. But if the organization had concentrated all their resources to destroying the team, they would be crushed in a matter of hours. And knowing that Delta Red was now making its way out of a core Shadowlaw base with two traitorous, yet talented employees and a prisoner, held for whatever reason with them, it didn't surprise him that they _would_ every available resource to tracking them down.

How did things end up this way? Aaron would have never guessed a simple order that Bison had given him would lead to this whirlwind of confusion, angst, betrayal, and in the end, to a lost brother in the form of Kenny. Bison had wanted the youth dead for some reason that Aaron was unable to pinpoint, or perhaps it was just the sheer irony of having Dr. Feng's surviving children kill each other off in the memory of their father. Aaron didn't know what Bison's motivations were, but he could only be sure that had he performed his duty to the fullest like he was ordered, Kenny would be dead. Aaron would have to live with the knowledge of having killed a sibling, which would be excruciating since it was the love of family that had drive Aaron since stepping onto Shadowlaw grounds. It was his lack of a family, with the exception of Katarina, that had motivated him to work to the level he'd arrived at, so that he'd be returned to his parents. It was the value of family that he held dearest. As if by a miracle, after he and Katarina discovered their father was murdered, they stumbled upon Kenny.

"_I'll kill you, everything you hold dearest ..."_

Kenny …

Aaron stopped in his tracks, nearly forcing everyone to crash into him. He was met with a chorus of protests at his sudden movement, or lack thereof, though he paid nobody any attention. For the first time since his spat with Wolfman, Aaron turned around to face the group, though he looked directly at Katarina, She met his insecure gaze with her dark, narrow eyes, wondering what could have been going on behind his expression.

"What's going on?" Wolfman demanded.

"Kat," Aaron said, looking at the sharp rocks at his feet regretfully, "I know we said if we returned from this mission alive, we'd come back for Kenny."

She crinkled a brow, wondering why he would have suddenly brought this up out of nowhere. But she decided to listen to what he had to say nonetheless. "What are you suggesting?" she asked. He knew she knew exactly what he was trying to imply, but it was in her complete personality to hear the words straight from his mouth.

"He hates us right now, for everything we've done with Shadowlaw," Aaron continued, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"But we're going to change that," she protested. "He doesn't understand our side of the story. He doesn't know that we wouldn't do anything to …"

"It'd be in his best interest for us to keep things the way they are. Let Kenny keep his impression of us the way it is. Let him continue hating, continue living in embarrassment of his blood relation to us and our father, of our legacy with Shadowlaw."

Katarina could only shake her head, too surprised by his words to retort with any of her own. Why was he saying this, after everything they'd been through? What were all these years of fighting for, if not to be united with the ones they loved? Luwanda spoke for her.

"You're crazy," she said, putting it simply. "By making this decision, you are losing twenty years of what you've lived for. Twenty years of life, wasted! "

"I didn't fight for twenty years to find Kenny," Aaron said calmly. "I fought to be reunited with our parents. And they're dead now."

"We fought for our family!" Katarina cried, clearly upset by his words. "Just because we were never aware of Kenny doesn't make him an outsider! We fought for him too, Aaron! Whether we knew it or not. Why … why are you talking like this!"

"I should've killed Genta back there," Aaron whispered, so inaudibly, only Katarina could make out his words. "But I couldn't, Kat, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I took him under my wing, trained him in the ways of the Shadowlaw military, sheltered him from a hostile environment outside the organization. I didn't want to see my efforts go to waste. I wanted to see him grow up to be a successful warrior. If I'd put a bullet in his head, it'd be another ten odd years of my efforts wasted. But after what he said …"

"_I'll kill you, and everything you hold dearest …"_

"…I should have done it."

"Oh no …" Katarina said, putting a hand up to an open mouth as everything her brother was saying fell into place. "You mean if Genta finds out about Kenny, and what he means to us …"

"Genta will kill him too."

**XXXXX**

**Bangkok, Thailand**

Cammy unlocked the door to the penthouse suite with a swipe of the keycard, her aroma of fried rice and fresh seafood wafting up at her from the plastic bag she held in her other hand. It was late afternoon by the time she'd gotten back from her little outing to see the city. She couldn't speak a word of Thai and had resorted to smiling and bowing her head politely whenever she was spoken to. She felt a little guilty playing tourist while there high-stakes fights were going on all around her. Ryu had left to face Sagat in battle while Issei had gone to free his sister from Shadowlaw's clutches with Delta Red's aid. Cammy wanted to join Issei on his mission too, but Wolfman had advised against it, telling her to instead focus on the tournament. She hated it when he was right, and he usually was. He had taken good care of her in the past since Delta Red had given her a position on their team, taking her away from her family. But Wolfman was kind of like a surrogate father to her and the rest of the team. Delta Red was like a little separate family unit for Cammy.

And instead of focusing on the tournament as Wolfman had suggested, Cammy decided to take a tour of the town. Guilt ebbed at her conscience but she could justify her actions. Already, because of the tournament, she'd been to two countries she'd never seen before. And if she had, her own memory wipe from Shadowlaw would've erased any trace of it …

It had been a long day of shopping and Cammy was dead beat tired – most of it from haggling. She hadn't known it at first, but in this society, a customer could bargain the price with a vendor until an agreement was reached. But initially, she'd gone off purchasing items at the first price spouted off to her until a tourist more familiar with the country's ways pulled her aside and let her in the know, after which Cammy went on a haggling spree.

She stepped into her suite and placed the plastic bag of take out food on the counter, kicking off her shoes right beside a pile of shopping bags from her earlier outings. All was quiet in the suit that offered a panoramic view of Bangkok city. This hotel was a lot more Zen and minimalist than the Victorian themed one back in Osaka. The low tables were sharp cornered with absolutely no decoration, coming in black, brown or dark red. The floor cushions were white, placed comfortably in a ring against the far corner, creating an intimate atmosphere.

The sight of Ryu, sitting with his back arched straight, elbows at his sides and hands resting on his knees startled her. He hadn't been expecting him to be here of all places, when he'd just finished a round with one of the bodyguard panel warriors. Ryu was dressed in his sleeveless karate uniform, red headband tied around his head, tails carried gently by the gentle wind. A thin layer of sweat on his neck reflected the sunlight. He sat motionless except for the steady rising and falling of his torso from his calmed, controlled breathing.

He looked so peaceful to Cammy, and though her initial reaction was to go and see how he was doing, she decided against it when he was obviously meditating. He had emerged victorious from his fight with Sagat. That had to be it or he wouldn't be sitting there right now, blending so nicely with the scenery, becoming one with all around him. Cammy shook her head, wondering when she'd become so spiritual, and headed to her room. Her feet were killing her from walking all over the city in the humid heat, and lying down didn't seem like a bad idea.

Cammy had only just gotten into her room when she received a second surprise. Sprawled on the queen sized mattress, almost blending in with the linen sheets in white bandages wrapped in layers around her lithe body was none other than the Interpol Agent, Chun Li. Her black hair poked out from the bandages wrapped around her head, though her facial features were left exposed for Cammy to recognize.

A sound of movement coming from behind startled her, and Cammy reacted with a vicious back fist – and felt it caught in a strong grip.

"It's me," Ryu said without a trace of surprise in his voice, and released her hand.

"God," Cammy gasped, clutching her chest, "don't do that."

"I thought I heard someone come in," Ryu explained, "but when you didn't say hi, I thought it was probably someone hostile."

"I didn't want to bug you," Cammy said, wringing her wrist, "sitting there all peaceful like that." She turned her attention to Chun Li, tipping her chin at the unconscious detective. "Where'd she come from?"

"Lost a fight to Sagat. I found her just as I was going up to face him." Cammy noticed Ryu's grim expression as he laid eyes on Chun Li, the regret and pity filtering through his dark, narrow eyes.

"She had no chance, did she?" Cammy asked, her eyes watering at both Chun Li's predicament, and the fact that she could be staring at her future.

Ryu didn't answer but merely shook his head in dismay. "Chun Li had a lot to lose by losing the fight," Ryu said after a few moments of silence. "She let the burden of what she held at stake hold her down, distract her from the fight. And ultimately, she lost. I don't know all the details about your situation Cammy, but I know enough to realize you have a lot riding on this too. Let Chun Li's predicament be a lesson to you. "

"Does that mean Sagat …" Cammy began, but Ryu already knew what she was asking.

"I defeated Sagat, but it's the fight with Bison I'm worried about." Ryu took his gaze of Chun Li and looked into Cammy's deep blue eyes at the height of his shoulder. "He's more powerful this time around. When he confronted me on the battlegrounds, I could sense it in him. No mortal being should be able to contain that much power in his body. But somehow, Bison has done it. The Psycho Drive, the Shadow Technology based Agent Initiative – whatever it is he's employing is giving him super human powers."

"Could be a combination of all three," Cammy suggested. Ryu breathed deeply for a long second and exhaled. Cammy looked at him with a concerned expression on her face. She noticed the twitch above his right brow, the fingers of his tightly clenched fist moving slightly, and the drop of sweat rolling down the side of his face. "You're not a hundred percent sure about our success, are you?" she asked.

"I never am about any fight," Ryu began, "but what I sensed in Bison earlier today … the odds aren't just against us, Cammy. They're stacked in his favor. All that power … it's unfathomable."

Cammy took Ryu's hand into both of hers, her skin pale in contrast to his darker tone. She gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze. It wasn't a so much a gesture of love, but more so of comfort and sympathy. They were both in the same boat, about to face the same dictator in the coming hours, and they both had a lot depending on their victory. For Ryu, it was his very life and morality he was fighting for, to never let himself become a weapon of evil. For Cammy, she was fighting for all the horrible things Shadowlaw had done to her – turning her own father against her and then killing him, annihilating Wagner's family in front of his eyes when he was just a child barely in his teens, tearing Kenny away from Cranky when they were just kids and messing with the biological make up of his body, giving Julian a son and taking him away like they were teasing a child by dangling a favorite toy over his head – the list went on and on.

"We're in this together," Cammy said. "We're on the final leg of this mission where teamwork matters most. We've been successful at removing the bodyguard panel altogether from the tournaments. And in the process, Ken, Chun Li, T. Hawk and Guile have fallen out of the rankings. There's still you and I, Ryu and ten other Street Fighters due to face Bison, and they're doing just that as we speak! They'll weaken him and …"

"For someone who's spent a lifetime with Shadowlaw," Ryu said bitterly, "you seem unfamiliar with how they work. During the Alpha tournaments, what do you think they do with those who fall out of the rankings?" The question silenced Cammy. She didn't know what to say to that. Sure, Ryu was right when he said she'd spent years with them, but her memory was wiped at the end of it. She didn't recall a thing.

"I don't know," she admitted shakily.

"They use the disqualified street fighters as test subjects," Ryu replied coldly. "There's a high probability that they're doing this again, as it coincides with the fact that they've got some kind of new mind control technology out right now."

"The Agent Initiative," Cammy whispered.

"And to be completely honest with you, it's not the just Bison's power levels that are concerning me right now. I don't know what's going on with the others, Cammy. I don't know how Ken is doing, nor do I know about Guile or T. Hawk. I don't know if they've already been taken as subjects or … I'm counting on Issei right now, stirring up trouble behind the scenes at the Shadowlaw base. Hopefully they're so busy with him that they haven't bothered with Ken and the others yet. Hopefully, they're still safe."

"Is that why you brought Chun Li here, instead of a hospital where she should be?"

Ryu nodded. "The hospital staff can't protect her against Shadowlaw agents they send after her. But I can."

"Her health might be in serious danger."

"Chi transfer," Ryu replied simply.

"You know, it's a mysterious force, I'll admit," Cammy said, putting her hands on her hips, eyeing Chun Li from the corners of her eye with skepticism written all over her face. "But it's not the be-all end-all of medicine."

"It's the most we can do for now." And to that, even Cammy could agree.

**XXXXX**

**Osaka, Japan**

The commotion awoke Kenny; voices that he heard, far off into the distance, slowly pulling his consciousness back to reality. He fought off a wave of nausea as his body began to move, as he began to think straight again. The darkness that claimed his consciousness was starting to fade, replaced by the dim lighting of the street lamps outside. His head throbbed, his limbs ached, pain radiated from his lower back throughout the rest of his body. He remembered absorbing some of the evil energy Akuma had emitted, and the way it gripped his body, killing his insides as he fought for control. Now it was gone, and only the damage was left. Kenny couldn't be sure how much energy he'd drained from Akuma, but he knew he'd done all he could to weaken the demon and let Ryu take care of the rest.

"What the fuck were you thinking, Wagner?" were the first words Kenny could clearly make out. "You've defeated the entire purpose of engaging Akuma!" The angry voice belonged to Cranky, clearly upset by whatever events had transpired while Kenny was out like a light bulb. He found himself sitting somewhat upright, leaning against someone. The weight of a stranger's arm bore down on his shoulders.

"If anything happens to Ryu now, it's your goddamned fault!" Cranky's voice was closer this time.

"Enough," Kenny tried to say, but his lips wouldn't cooperate.

"Look, Julian and I fucking rushed over here as fast as we could to help out, alright!" Wagner screamed back, trying to defend himself. "What's important is that we weakened the demon. There's no way he will defeat Ryu now."

"Ryu is on an important mission to take out Shadowlaw, Wagner," Cranky said, "and that means taking out Bison himself! If you know that organization as well as you act like you do, then you know we can't afford to have Ryu take on any more challenges than necessary! What you've done has …"

"Hold it with the bantering," Kenny said and this time, he was audible enough to grab everyone's attention.

"Holy shit, Kenny!" Cranky cried, and Kenny realized it was his brother he'd found himself leaning against, with his arm thrown protectively over the youth's shoulders. Cranky rested his chin in the top of Kenny's head, pulling his adoptive brother in to a rough embrace. "Thank fucking God you're alright. You did good, kiddo. Real good."

"Congratulations," Wagner said, "you've done a great deal for us. And now, we think you've finally freed yourself from that Shadow Technology for good."

"No thanks to you," Cranky spat back at him. "We had Akuma. We _had_ him, and you had to go spout off your big fucking trap and …"

"Hey, I already told you what I said doesn't matter!" Wagner shouted, clearly upset by Cranky's continuous accusations.

"It _does _matter! Now that the demon knows where Ryu is, what the hell were we fighting for back there! You jump into the middle of the fighting without the slightest clue of what was going on!"

"You're really a piece of work, aren't you! Showing your gratitude like this? Maybe it was a mistake coming in and saving your ass."

"Maybe it was! Maybe your sheer presence fucked everything up to begin with!"

"Shut the hell up!" Julian bellowed, standing at the shattered glass door that had once separated the patio from the rest of the suite. Though his voice was hoarse, he gasped for breath after his outburst. "Both of you!" He sank back against the wall, as if he hadn't mean to make such an outcry, and took a look at what was left of Kenny's apartment. The coffee table was overturned and had snapped into. The walls sported giant cracks and holes. His television cabinet had collapsed face down onto the wooden floor. His lampshade lay broken pieces. The patio door was broken, the glass shattered into little tempered cubes with a chair from his bistro set lying broken on its side by the front door. There was nothing left standing – just piles upon piles of debris now.

"Kenny's home has been destroyed," Julian continued, "and he's nearly killed himself. And what was all of this for? For you two to point fingers and blame each other? Why can't you fucking see that we've done all that we could do, and just leave it at this? Why do you have to go on and make trouble for yourselves? What else does he have to sacrifice to stop you two from ripping each other apart!"

Kenny continued Julian's train of thought, mourning the loss of his earthly possessions. "I have no place to go to now. The landlord's gonna sue me for damages and Mr. Takayama's probably already fired me from my job. So just shut up, okay? I've got enough on my plate to deal with …"

"He's right," Julian said as he watched the tension unfold before him. "We can fight all we want now but that won't change anything that's about to happen." He walked over to the brothers, sitting on the broken futon, ignoring Wagner who was now pacing back and forth in front of a dented wall. Julian offered a helping hand which Kenny accepted, and yanked the youth to his feet. "You wanna go for a smoke?"

Kenny didn't say anything, but nodded in agreement. Now was the best time for one, if ever.

"Good, cause there's something I have to tell you."

**XXXXX**

**Las Vegas, U.S.A.**

"Please Ken," Guile finished before hanging up the phone. His gaze held the sight of the setting desert sun, its last rays struggling to sustain the warmth of the desert rock before it dipped down into the horizon for the night. The cool air was closing in fast on the land, making its way into the recovery ward through the open window. Guile pulled the blanket up to his chin, like a child afraid of the dark while the other hand kept the receiver to his ear. "I know we haven't had the best of relationships in the past, but I'll need you to do this for me."

No, Guile's past relationship with Ken was regrettable, to put it lightly. Though Ken was about to get happily married to his fiancée, and would soon be a father, Guile could never forget the irresponsible teenager that had captured Cammy's heart and the kind of things he made the girl do. Because of her relation to his best friend, Charlie Nash, Guile could never bring himself to lay blame or a finger on the blonde, pig-tailed girl and instead chose to take his frustrations out on Ken Masters. He understood that her irresponsibility was as much to blame as Ken's, though through his own stubbornness, failed to acknowledge that fact.

"Guile," Ken said sympathetically, as if he held nothing in the world against the older street fighter, "I know how much this means to you. And I would never purposely exclude you from what I'm about to do. You're more than welcome to come with me."

"How long do you think it'll take you to get here?"

"I can't make it all the way over to the States from Japan, and back to Asia by the time the final battle commences. You'll have to meet me part way in Vancouver, Canada. We can't afford to miss out on this battle with Bison. I don't care whether we're out of the tournament or not."

"There's too much at stake to let the tournament rules apply," Guile agreed.

"You'll just have to give me some room for error," Ken continued. "The jet will be making a pit stop in Osaka to pick up the others."

"The others?" Guile inquired. "How many people do we need?"

"Guile, I've seen the damage Shadowlaw has caused everyone. Julian's missing a son and a father, Kenny and Cranky were separated for the most important years of their lives when they needed each other, Juli's struggling to reclaim her humanity after her services as a Doll, and I don't need to tell you anything about Wagner. Those are five lives the company has practically ruined, not counting yours, Chun Li's, or Cammy's, and that's just in our circle. If anything, witnessing Shadowlaw's downfall should be sufficient closure to their ordeals – or at least, be a beginning to their journey to recovery."

"Do the others know about your plans?"

"Kenny and Cranky don't," Ken reported. "I tried contacting them to extend the offer, but Cranky's cell is off, and I can't get through to Kenny's line for some reason. But I've notified Julian, Wagner, and Juli, and they've gone over to Kenny's place to track them down. The jet's on its way right now to Osaka."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'm on it. No worries."

"Ken, I can understand why you'd want to bring Wagner and the others with you. But be aware of the kind of danger you're putting them in. These people are civilians."

"Julian's an ex-Shadowlaw soldier. Wagner was once a soldier himself in the US Air Force, and you should know that, and Juli's a professional assassin. I'd hardly call them civilians. And besides, Cranky's quite the brawler with an overprotective complex. He won't hesitate to break anyone in two if they lay a finger on Kenny – not that the kid will need any protecting. If I recall correctly, it was Kenny who fought alongside you while you were under attack from your brainwashed son, _and _saved your life by single-handedly pulling you from a car wreck."

"But still, this is Shadowlaw."

"These aren't civilians, Guile, they're survivors – _all _of them. Now I gotta go. I have money, but I'm not made of it and this phone bill isn't helping. I'll be in touch."

The phone call ended before Guile could utter another word, leaving him in the silence of the recovery ward. There wasn't enough time for him to heal. He was going into the final battle for Charlie's sake, for the sake of his children, and for his own. He wanted to be there to see this, and to aid Ryu in his time of need. As much faith as he had in the Street Fighter champion, he wasn't sure if Bison would stick to the rules of the tournament and sick the guards on him.

Ken would arrive in Canada in about half a day and Guile had to meet him in Vancouver to get over to Thailand with him. There was no time to sleep. He had to make his move now.

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw** **Base**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

The weapons storage locker had been left intact by the time Genta made his way out of the complex. He'd gone in for a simple handgun or two, but after noticing the rows upon rows of semi-automatic weapons, taser guns and grenade lauchers, upon rows of more traditional armaments like sais, nunchucks, and samurai swords, he decided to nab a rocket launcher and blow up his targets from a distance. It'd save him any effort of having to approach the group and open himself up to a counter attack. And if he were to assault them from a distance, the risk of his detection would be significantly reduced.

His level of clarity was eerie, given the extreme emotions that weighed his heart down. The one person who'd guided him, who'd served as a trusted guide through Genta's frightening experience with Shadowlaw had turned his back on him and the company. He was proud to be under Issei's direct tutelage, and had the envy of other Shadowlaw recruits, and fully expected to succeed once the Admiral retired. Issei would never understand the kind of grief he'd caused Genta upon his betrayal of Shadowlaw. Genta no longer had the respect of his fellow soldiers. Instead, they stared at him with their smug grins, taunted him, mocked him, joked that Genta would be the next traitor to the company, following in Issei's footsteps. The leered at him when he walked by, tripped him as he struggled to keep his head up high. The torment had only begun a few days ago, but already it'd felt like an eternity, and stepped up a notch when Katarina was recaptured.

Genta continued to believe in Issei's actions, believing that he must've had some good reason for doing what he did, that the Admiral could have in no way betrayed Shadowlaw. The concept itself was unbelievable, especially not after everything they'd done for him. Aside from Bison's bodyguards, nobody in Shadowlaw's military was more dedicated to the welfare of the company than Issei. But Genta's faith had been misplaced.

Genta reminded himself of this disturbing fact as he strapped the launcher to his back. The size of the weapon, only about four feet long, four and a half with the loaded missile, defied its weight. It was far heavier than it looked, but Genta shouldered it without much fuss. Daily rigorous training had made him tougher than he'd expected himself to be. But Issei always warned him to never expect too much of himself, otherwise he'd be setting himself up for major disappointment. He kept the lesson to heart even now, as he didn't expect to succeed in his mission, but to contribute as much as he could to its success.

His mission? Blow up the fucking twin traitors, the Delta Red Squad that assisted them, and return to Shadowlaw as a hero. That would teach his fellow soldiers to ridicule him, to spit in his face, point and laugh at him like some sad puppy betrayed by his master. That would teach anyone to cross him, or Shadowlaw. Genta could just see the look on Issei's face now when he sees the missile flying towards them at top speed. Or … maybe not if he was planning a sneak attack. But he supposed he could sacrifice that bit of pleasure just to ensure the mission's success. After all, being spotted would greatly reduce his chances of pulling it off well.

The escapees thought they'd secured a way out of the complex through the underground tunnels. He was surprised at Delta Red's abilities. The complex tunnel system winding its way through the underground was enough to get anybody lost. And even the architect for the base had a tough time understanding the system's structure and where he could build what. But alas, they were on their way out, being smart enough to have marked the way in. But Genta wasn't going to see that they made it out of the tunnels as he continued his trek out of the base and into the cavernous rock formations.

**XXXXX**

**Kenneth's Residence, Patio**

**Osaka, Japan**

Kenny stubbed out his cigarette, leaving the butt in the ashtray while Father Marquez was working on his. Father Marquez … was he allowed to call himself that anymore? Was Kenny allowed to call him that now? Switching over to just plain old "Julian" would be difficult, considering he had always known the young Catholic priest as the ever sensible, morally stable, Father Marquez. Well, it wouldn't hurt to try anyway. With what Julian had just told Kenny about himself, he wondered what the "real" Julian was like, and he was curious to see.

"Secondly," Julian finished and loosened his grip on the cigarette butt, ready to dispose of it and stomp it out.

"Uh, no," Kenny interrupted, holding out the ashtray. Julian pressed his lips into a line feeling a little embarrassed about the disrespect he didn't intend, and threw the butt in there. As soon as he'd done so, Kenny nodded at him to continue.

"It's a good thing Wagner and I got here when we did," he said. "Akuma would've probably finished you and Cranky off."

"Impeccable timing," Kenny agreed, "but what made you come here in the first place? How did you know we were in trouble?"

"We didn't," Julian admitted, shrugging. "We came over here to tell you to pack your bags. We're getting out of here. The four of us, and Juli too."

"A vacation sounds nice, but have you seen what's happened to my place? I'm going to be sued left and right for damage. Management will probably kick me out and I have no way of paying the bills considering I haven't been to work in a week and they've probably already fired my sorry ass." Kenny dropped his head into his hands, the reality of his situation hitting him even as he said the words. "Cranky's trusting me to take care of myself, moving to England with Cammy. The Street Fighters are gonna go home after all this is over and Uncle Ken has his own family to worry about. And I was fine with all that, until all this happened. Christ … I'll have nowhere to go to but back to the streets. "

"Honestly," Julian said, trying to comfort him, "I doubt Ken will let that happen to you. After all he's been giving you money for the last nine years. Why would he stop now?"

"Maybe he'll raise my allowance," Kenny said hopefully.

Julian shook his head, smiling to himself at the teen's thinking.

"I mean, it'll take some convincing and I totally know I'm being a leech, but he _might _raise it, right? I can find a new job, a new house maybe in Tokyo, and earn the money to pay him back and …"

"Ken leaks money," Julian said simply. "Do you think he's interested in you paying him back? My advice is to just go on this 'vacation' as you call it, and let him know what's happened here. I'm sure he'll be willing to help you out. And if he doesn't give you the money, he'll at least shelter you until you can get back on your feet."

**XXXXX**

**Kenneth's Residence, Living Room**

**Osaka, Japan**

Wager was leaning against the wall, elbows resting on propped up knees. Cranky lay on his back, stretched out on the floor just a few feet away, willing away the pain of his wounds from the previous fight. The two of them had barely said anything to each other since Julian and Kenny stepped outside for the ritual cigarette that smokers shared together. Wagner and Cranky had just gotten into a verbal scrap and though they felt a little remorseful after Julian's outburst, scolding them unlike he would a pair of squabbling children, neither one had any idea how to make amends. But for Cranky, he felt like he had to, before he could ask a small favor of Wagner.

"I shouldn't have blown up at you like that," Cranky admitted aggressively. Wagner couldn't see his face, but if he could, he'd have seen a stubborn from of someone having to accept their wrongdoing. "It's just that, well, your little outburst defeated the whole purpose of the fight. If we wanted to let Akuma know about Ryu's whereabouts, Kenny and I would've just told him straight without bothering to lift a finger against …"

"I know," Wagner interrupted, sounding equally apologetic, "and for the millionth time, I'm sorry, okay? You don't think I've been killing myself over this already?"

Cranky took a second to think about this and said, "No, no, I think you are. I'm just saying I shouldn't have added to it, that's all. So, are we cool now?" He struggled to get this embarrassing apologizing shit over with so he could get down to the real meat of this conversation, but Wagner seemed to be enjoying Cranky's humility.

"I dunno, man," Wagner said, "you hurt my feelings pretty good back there."

"Oh, fuck off."

"Yeah, yeah," Wagner chuckled, "we're cool. I have no choice when you're my sister's boyfriend. Though I can't even begin to guess why, really, when you guys are either lovey-dovey or beating the shit out of each other. I wouldn't stand for that under normal circumstances but hell, Cammy's beat _me _up pretty good in the past, so I know she can hold her own against pretty much any man."

"She can sure take care of herself," Cranky agreed, "much better than I can. I can't even find myself a decent home, nothing but run down shacks in London. I even pay with those for money I've conned out of people."

"You know, Cranky," Wagner said, "I know you will take excellent care of Cammy. Aside from us, Guile, Jane, Melissa and me, she also trusts in you to provide her with protection if she asks. I don't get what's going on in her crazy head, but one thing's for sure. To Cammy, it doesn't matter how much money you can give her, or the kind of roof you can put over her head. All she wants out of you is your love."

"But how can you be so sure I'll be good for her when you look at my life and …"

"Because I look at Kenny, and I see what you can do."

Cranky's first reaction was pride. He had done everything to instill into the kid the values he held close to his heart – the most important being to never lie, only to others if it means your survival but never to yourself. Then Cranky thought about Kenny's attributes that got under his skin. "You mean the back talking, chain smoking, careless …"

"No, he's just a teenager, Cranky. Don't forget that. He'll grow out of that stage soon enough. Look what's behind the back talk. What does that tell you? He doesn't back down from a fight, verbal or physical, no matter how tough the opponent. He believes in what he stands for that strongly, and the only person he backs down from is you – and even then, it's a struggle. Who taught him to think like that?"

"Well … it couldn't have been me. Maybe in the beginning, yeah, but his memory got wiped."

Wagner shook his head. "Facts. He doesn't remember facts like where he comes from, who his parents are, his family and friends. But his instincts, key survival instincts developed in children when they're at the impressionable ages from 4 to 6, who was raising him at the time?"

"…me?"

"You," Wagner added with finality.

"Me." Cranky repeated, a little stronger this time, and once again felt his chest fill with pride; pride in himself, and of what Kenny had accomplished with what he'd armed the youth with.

Cranky stared up at the ceiling and couldn't help the smile setting across his face. Wagner had a point there, and the guy was making sense. He needed this conversation more than he realized. It was strange, but felt surprisingly good to have Wagner backing him up, having faith in his capabilities despite the less than glamorous life he had. How could anyone, Cranky included, be so sure of the kind of protection and security he could offer? Wagner's answer was simple and made the most sense. One would have to look no further than Kenny … and maybe, be perceptive enough to see through the youth's faults.

Cranky regretted what he was about to ask of Wagner, however, especially after the speech had empowered him so. But as nice as it was, the awful truth was that when it came to Kenny and the pivotal role Cranky played in the teen's younger years, everything was in the past. Time had passed, and things had changed. Kenny still had a few years left of growing up to do but for once in his life, Cranky could not be there for him.

"Wagner," he began, unsure of how to form the question without sounding too needy.

"Yeah?"

"You're a youth counselor, right?"

"With the air force," Wagner elaborated.

"What is it you do, exactly? Like, I mean …" Cranky scratched his head. "Would you say you're a good counselor?"

Wagner chuckled humbly in response. "I help the new recruits overcome the shock of being away from home, the nature of war, and of course the delinquents. Though I gotta say, the drill sergeants are sometimes better at it than I am. Decide how good I am with that. But why do you ask?"

"Well, you see …" Cranky sat up and decided to face Wagner. He was about to ask a lot out of Cammy's brother, and decided that the chances his request would be met more positively would be if he were looking Wagner directly in the eye. The joking smile slowly faded from Wagner's face when he noticed Cranky wasn't returning it. "I'm only asking this of you because I have the utmost trust in you, Wagner. I've never asked someone to do something like this for me before, but …"

"Just get to the point, Cranky," Wagner said, "and I'll give you my answer."

"What you said earlier," Cranky began, scratching the back of his head again nervously, "you were right. Kenny's still a teenager, no matter how you look at it. He needs someone to be there for him. Masters has provided a pretty comfy life for him, but I'm talking about something more than that. What I mean is - Kenny needs guidance. I never got any of that, nobody to teach me from right and wrong, to support me when I needed it, nor anyone to smack me upside the head when I was being stupid and I've tried to be all of this for Kenny."

"So why do you sound like you're throwing in the towel? Are you giving up on him?"

Cranky shook his head violently. "Never," he said. The response was firm and sharp. Then he took a moment to collect his thoughts and continued. "I've done all can for him; all I know how to do. He's at the stage in life where the decisions he makes will affect his future. And I can't even hope to show him the right way because my life … well, I don't need to explain that. And I'm only starting to turn it around. But I can't do that, work on my relationship with Cammy and do a shit job that I don't know how to do watching over Kenny."

"You have a point," Wagner admitted.

"Everything I know I learned from experience. Most people would say it's an admirable quality, but this was experience gained from the goddamned streets! I mean, Christ, look at me. If it weren't for Cammy, I'd still be drinking every night, hung over every morning, and fucking every woman in sight twenty-four seven. I don't want that for Kenny. I'd lead him away from that path with my own bare hands, but the problem is, I can't cause I haven't experienced any better and I'm just getting my life on track right now, at twenty-fucking-five years old."

"You're taking on too much at once," Wagner said, nodding. "Your relationship with Cammy, your first legitimate business, and your responsibility towards your kid brother … how did you get yourself in this boat?"

"That's why I'm asking for your help, Wagner."

"That's why you wanted to know the details of my job and the kind of youth counselor I am. Shit, Cranky, are you asking me to …"

"All I'm asking for is a roof over Kenny's head and just … be a replacement for me while I get some things straightened out with myself first."

"Whoa …" Wagner felt like he'd just been punched in the stomach. There was so much going through his mind right now; how he'd feel about himself if he refused, leaving a youth to himself like that. He thought about his situation if he said yes. If so, how long would he be watching out for Kenny? What did that mean for his work? Would he ever be able to shed the counselor persona? "That's … that's a huge responsibility you're asking me to take for you, Cranky."

"N-no, it's not," Cranky continued to insist, "because I'm going to give you the money you need for his expenditures like clothes, food, transportation, school fees, all of that shit."

"I'm not talking about the financial costs," Wagner countered. "I'm talking about the moral responsibility."

"He's not a baby, and you're not his father," Cranky said. "You know he can take care of himself fine enough, and you even said I was able to teach him that much. Look, all I'm asking for is a roof over his head and someone to keep an eye on him. That's all."

"Oh, is _that_ all?" Wagner asked with exaggerated sarcasm.

"If he gets himself into shit, he knows how to take responsibility for it. And if he doesn't, I'll fly down from London personally and give him a beating he won't forget. I'm not gonna blame you for anything, I swear. Just keep a tab on him, that's all I want. But … all the same, I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to do."

Wagner sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, Cranky …"

"No," Cranky said, putting his hands up, "it's alright, I understand."

"It's just that …"

"I know, it was rude of me to even think about it. I just thought you'd be the best person to do it, so I had to at least try, you know? But whatever, I can just leave him in Masters' capable hands."

"Ken's got his own family to worry about," Wagner said, finally able to squeeze a word in. "I _am _the best person to look out for Kenny for you."

Cranky's eyes went wide with glee. "So you're saying …"

"I'm saying, I'm a youth counselor, Cranky, not a parent. Which is why you can't expect him to become a polite, well mannered young man under my watchful eyes. You can, however, expect that he'll be sheltered and protected."

"Thank you, Wagner!" Cranky declared. "You're a life saver, I swear to God!"

"Remember," Wagner said, holding up a finger, "this is only until you can get your situation straightened out. I'm counting on Kenny to be at least partly responsible for himself."

"He will be," Cranky promised. "I'll talk to him. Drive it into his thick skull. Thanks again, Wagner. I'll send a check every month to reimburse you for your expenses and …"

"Don't go making promises you're not even sure you can keep yet," Wagner said. "This isn't about the money so much as it is about the responsibility. But if it'll help you can Cammy get your lives on track and be happy together, I'll give it a shot."

The doorbell rang just as Kenny and Julian were on their way back inside. They didn't need to open the sliding door, instead opting to simply step through the broken frame.

"Who the hell could be visiting at this time of the night?" Julian asked.

"I'll get it," Kenny said, stepping forward. Before he could get to the door, Cranky took him by the elbow.

"There's something I have to talk to you about later," he said excitedly, his face beaming with happiness.

"Uh … okay," Kenny replied, returning a hesitant look, "but some psycho's at the door, if you didn't hear the bell ringing."

Kenny approached the main entrance, kicking aside some debris leftover from the fight and undid the latch, pulling the door open.

"Congratulations," the visitor said in a mock, professional announcer's voice, "you've just won a free flight for five courtesy of Masters Airlines … What the FUCK happened here?"

"Uncle Ken!" Kenny cried happily, throwing his arms around the waist of Ken Masters, who winced in pain.

"Ouch, Kenny, stop," he pleaded through a few coughs, "easy on the ribs there. They're still trying to heal up from the fight."

"I still can't figure out how you managed to get out of the hospital," Julian said, approaching his old friend at the door.

"Yo, how's it goin', Marquez? Long time no see." The pair slapped hands and jabbed knuckles against each others', implying a friendship that stretched far back, perhaps one that was even older than Kenny. "You guys had a party in here and didn't even bother to invite me!"

"We would have," Wagner said, "but someone you don't like showed up."

"Akuma came," Kenny explained.

"What?" Ken's eyes went wide with horror. He pointed a shaky finger at the four of them standing there who he now realized looked like hell with darkening bruises, open wounds, ripped clothing and tangled hair. "All of you took him on and … and … lived?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a second," Cranky said, interrupting the happy reunion. "Last time I spoke with you, Masters, you were on your way to Spain in a plane. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Whisking you guys away to beautiful, sunny Thailand, of course – on my private jet. You can explain what happened here on board."

"We're going to Thailand?" Cranky asked, breathless. Cammy was there. She was going to fight Bison. He was going to have a chance to be by her side in the most important battle of her life. "You're joking, right?"

"Of course," Ken said, "I flew all the way from Spain to psyche you out in person. Now excuse me while I go back to my hospital bed half a world away to recover and laugh about how well I got you."

"That's what we came here to tell you," Wagner explained to Cranky. "Good thing, too."

"I was wondering why I couldn't get through to either of you," Ken said, motioning to the adoptive brothers. "Now this explains it." He looked around the trashed room. "Now come on, you guys. Let's get going. We don't have much time since we're making a pit stop over to beautiful Vancouver, Canada to pick up Guile. He's meeting us there from Las Vegas."

"Sounds like a plan," Cranky said, pushing Kenny along in front of him.

"Oh, I forgot something," Ken said abruptly. "We're gonna have to make it back to the airport real quick. I had to leave Juli there cause the rental car can only fit five people."

"Juli?" Cranky asked, exchanging uneasy glances with Wagner and Kenny.


	39. Chapter 33: Let's Go

**Shadowlaw Base, Outside**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

According to Colonel Wolfman, the helicopter was just ahead but all Dorian could see was the jungle foliage. If it wasn't much further of a walk, Dorian knew he could handle it. The underground caverns they navigated through were cool from the darkness and the outside breeze. The only sounds in there he could pick up were the steady dripping of mineralized water and their footsteps against the razor sharp gravel. They had since left the tunnels and were now marching through the humid jungle air. The heat was so dense and the air so thick, it choked Dorian at first, and almost had a texture to it. Despite the discomfort, without any rocks threatening to cut up his feet, he knew he'd be able to go on foot. Besides, as strong as he was, Dorian sensed that Aaron was beginning to tire, carrying him in one arm, a heavy automatic rifle in the other. But when he mentioned the idea to Aaron, he Shadowlaw Admiral wasn't willing to comply.

"Who knows what kind of wildlife they've got roaming on the ground," Aaron said. "Centipedes as thick as your thumb, scorpions the size of your fist, and snakes … I'm not taking that risk."

His reply didn't earn him another suggestion from Dorian, and the boy decided to just clam up and enjoy the scenery around him. Having been cooped up in the Shadowlaw cells for the last few months, or maybe even years – he couldn't remember – it was nice to see a little color other than the drab grays of the cement and the darkness of the dungeons.

Suddenly, they heard the audible click of a weapon and the members of the traveling party froze in their tracks. Dorian felt the hair at the back of his neck stand on end. Apparently the threat of being recaptured hadn't been lifted yet. He figured as much, but the serenity of their surroundings did much to distort his perception of their situation.

"Arms down, Ginzu," Wolfman ordered from the rear of the group, "it's us."

Dorian turned to look in every direction conceivable, yet he couldn't see anything that looked like a helicopter. And then the camouflage blanket was lifted, and with a sudden rush of air, the fabric crumpled to the ground and revealed the body of the mechanical gray bird, beckoning them as Ginzu, a small man who could almost be mistaken for a boy, stood in the opening in the side of the vehicle, waving excitedly.

"Thank goodness you guys are okay," he said with a thick British accent, removing his beret to reveal a mop of long, ruffled blond hair. He wiped the sweat off his face with a forearm. "I was starting to think I'd have to go in there and get you guys out myself."

"Ah, Ginzu," Luwanda said affectionately as she tapped him on the head, "so little faith in our abilities." She entered the helicopter and strapped herself in, followed by Katarina, then McCoy, while Wolfman continued to cover the rear.

"So you guys are the traitors to Shadowlaw," Ginzu commented, eyeing Katarina and Aaron separately. "It doesn't sound bad when you have the words "Shadowlaw" and "traitor" in the same sentence. The two negatives cancel each other out and becomes a positive and …"

"Thanks for the lesson in linguistics," Wolfman interrupted, "but it'd do us more good if you could help get the engine started so we can get the hell out of this joint." Dorian noticed that Ginzu was taken aback by the aggression in their Colonel's tone, but guessed that it had been misdirected.

"Come on, kiddo," Aaron said, lifting Dorian to the opening, "up you get."

McCoy received the boy and helped him get strapped in while Aaron clambered in after them. Wolfman was the last to join them as he slid the door shut and found himself a seat, directly across from where Aaron sat. They both looked at each other uncomfortably.

"So where are we going?" Dorian asked Wolfman, to break the tension between the two men.

Wolfman smiled at the boy and asked, "Where would you like to go? You're free from Shadowlaw now. You can go anywhere you like."

"I'd like to find my family," Dorian answered honestly.

"We can help you out with that."

Wolfman's words were the last comprehensible thing Dorian could hear as the air gradually filled with the sound of the chopper's propellers rotating, their blades slashing at the thick air fast enough to lift the entire vehicle with their body weight off the ground and into the clear blue sky. Dorian guessed it was sometime in the evening when Aaron had first sprung him and Katarina from the cells. It was hard to tell the time of day really, when they were kept underground. And judging from the orange sunlight, he guessed it was now either late evening or early morning.

Bright orange sunlight flooded the cabin, illuminating everyone's somber expressions. They were all able to breathe a sigh of relief as the helicopter climbed higher into the air and made its way towards the horizon. The nightmare was over and already, Dorian could feel the sweat on his back and forehead drying with the help of the cabin's air conditioning system. Dorian leaned back in his seat and turned his head slightly to look out the window.

Somewhere out there, there was a family frantically looking for him. He could see them now – the nice blonde lady whose face he didn't recognize, looking down lovingly at him. He felt safe with her watching over him, and Dorian knew that he loved her. There wasn't a point in his life where he could recall the specific event taking place to earn him that memory, but somewhere deep inside him, he knew it had happened. She was very young, probably in her late teens to early twenties with a silky voice, her touch cool and gentle on his forehead. He felt safe in her presence. Nothing would ever hurt him when she was there. But the as for who she was, Dorian suspected that she was his mother, though that couldn't be proven either, along with her existence. A guardian angel perhaps, if not his mother?

Dorian analyzed himself in the reflection of the window. If she was his mother, perhaps there would be some trait in him that he'd inherited from her. Dorian's hair was dark brown, his eyes a deep blue, his complexion pale with a slight tint of olive – nothing to indicate that he was the offspring of this mysterious woman that haunted his memories. Dorian had received comments before, comments stating that he didn't look quite Caucasian to be considered "white", but too white to be Italian or Greek. If this woman was his mother, his father must've at least been of Mediterranean descent. But Dorian had no idea where to even start looking for either of this people once he got to wherever the chopper was taking him.

"So how'd a kid like you end up in Shadowlaw's dungeons?" Wolfman asked.

Dorian was jarred from his thoughts, realizing only then that the question was being directed at him.

"Well …" he began, not knowing where to start, "I'm not sure exactly. Family connections, I guess."

"What sort of connections?"

Dorian didn't think it would be much of a threat telling this man who seemed to be questioning him based on curiosity more than anything else. But even still, Grandfather Francisco Marquez had always told him to be careful about revealing himself to others, based on the reputation of the Latin Kings. With their kind of name, there would be no telling what that information meant to whoever he gave it to, whether it be the gangs rival to the Latin Kings, or authority figures.

"My grandfather is a successful businessman," Dorian stated carefully, keeping his words truthful, but generic as well.

"Oh, and what kind of business?"

"I'm not sure," Dorian lied. He never liked lying, but his grandfather had stressed to him how important it was to keep their kind of business under wraps, to the point where Dorian was now afraid to spill anything to avoid his grandfather's wrath.

"It can't be legal," McCoy noted audibly to Wolfman, not thinking Dorian would be able to understand.

"If it involves Shadowlaw," Wolfman said, "nothing can be." He turned his attention back to the boy. "Do you know what the name of this business is?"

Dorian was starting to wonder if perhaps he was better off in those cells. He was glad to be out, but not if he was going to have to turn his grandfather into the authorities, the only family Dorian had in the crazy amalgamation of unfortunate circumstances that his life was made of. "No."

Dorian was going to keep playing the innocent card until it would hold out no longer.

He hoped he could used his age to his advantage and focused on looking like the poor child caught up in a mess that was never intended for him. It wasn't that hard to pull off, considering it was partly true. He had been born into the life of the Latin Mafia in downtown Los Angeles. He was sure the blonde woman in his dreams wasn't a part of it all because he had yet to see her in real life.

"Well when we get back to headquarters," Wolfman said, "we're going to do some research on your grandfather, and help you find the rest of your family. If they're in Shadowlaw's hands like you are, we're going to have to get them out as well."

Had they not been so damn high off the ground, Dorian would have leapt out of the chopper right then and there. Colonel Wolfman seemed like a nice guy, and Dorian appreciated his efforts to be helpful. But he knew that given the history of his dealings with the Latin Kings, having the good colonel help him would only make things worse.

A mixed blessing came in the form of a violent jolt to the helicopter cabin, simultaneous with some kind of explosion coming from the outside. Everyone was nearly thrown from their seats despite having fastened the seatbelts.

"What the hell!" Aaron cried from beside Dorian.

"Fuck!" Ginzu screamed from the cockpit.

"What's going on up there?" Wolfman demanded.

"I've lost control of the propeller!" Ginzu replied.

"This ain't good!" Luwanda added, gazing out the window. "I'm seeing smoke!"

Panic began to rise in Dorian's chest, combined with the sudden tailspin the chopper was thrown into. This couldn't be. They couldn't have nearly died trying to escape the Shadowlaw complex only to have their victory soured by a malfunctioning escape vehicle. It couldn't be. They'd come too far!

Protest as he might have, Dorian was completely helpless to take charge of the situation. Their lives lay in the capable hands of Ginzu, their pilot, and his screams of frustration and panic weren't helping the boy's psyche.

"Everybody hold on!" Ginzu hollered over the noise of the falling chopper. "We're going down hard and fast!"

Aaron instinctively threw himself over Dorian, shielding the boy's head and shoulders with his bulk. Luwanda and Katarina huddled together while McCoy wrapped his arms around both women. Wolfman paralleled his torso with the floor, hands clasped above his head. The six of them waited for the rocking to stop, everyone holding the contents of their stomachs in as the world spun around them. Upper branches of the jungle slapped the sides of the vehicle violently. The slaps grew faster and harder as the chopper carved its way through the lower trees of the jungle. That was the last thing Dorian remembered before he felt himself get thrown forward, out of Aaron's grasp, and the world disappeared around him into a dark void.

**XXXXX**

**Master's Private Jet**

**Over the Pacific**

Cranky gazed out of the small window at his left side, looking at the vast blue sea around him. From up here, even the biggest ocean waves seemed to be stationary. This wasn't his first time on a plane, not by a long shot, but he traveled rarely and would always be captivated by the beauty of the ocean from this high up. There was no land that he could see for miles and miles around. He strained his eyes to spot any wildlife, maybe whales perhaps. But when he could find none, he realized they were probably too high to see something even as big as a whale. It wasn't like he needed ocean life to keep him occupied, anyway. The sheer size of the Pacific Ocean was doing a good enough job. It took his attention away from the goings on inside the cabin of Ken's private jet.

Kenny was fast asleep beside him with his head on a pillow in Cranky's lap. The tanned leather seats were meant to sit two people, and offered enough space to support one person lying down. Despite the space, Kenny's knees were buckled. One of his arms covered his face, the other one hanging off the edge of the seat. Cranky glanced down at the sleeping teen and smiled. He only ever slept on his left side, and he always needed to have something covering his eyes so he could fall asleep to the darkness, which is why during their days on the street, Kenny had always wanted to sleep in the refrigerator box in the alley, while Cranky bitterly submitted to the boy's whining and settled with a wooden crate. Some things never changed, memory wipe or not.

"Yo, how's it going, Crankurt?" Wagner whispered, joining Cranky in the facing sofa on which Juli slept upright, her head leaning against the cabin wall. Cranky had avoided eye contact with her since meeting up with her at the airport. And they had barely exchanged words beyond false pleasantries just to avoid starting up any unnecessary drama. Wagner took his place beside her and gently placed a wool blanket over her slender frame.

"Not too bad," Cranky replied, still gazing out the window.

Wagner let out a chuckle upon seeing Kenny. "Sleeping like a baby."

"I don't think any of us slept well last night," Cranky said, stating the obvious as he recalled the attack on Akuma.

"How's the arm?" Wagner asked, tipping his chin at the raw wound on Cranky's upper arm where Kenny had missed Akuma with an expertly thrown knife and hit his brother instead.

"Masters put a little antiseptic on it. It should be better in a few days. But it hasn't been bothering me."

"Have you told Kenny about our arrangements for him yet?" Wagner inquired, changing the subject.

"I was going to at first," Cranky admitted. "But the more I thought about it, the more I realize … I'm afraid."

"Afraid?"

"I can't help but feel like I'm betraying him."

"You're not making sense."

"Kenny doesn't have anyone else," Cranky explained.

Cranky's words were doused with guilt when there was little reason for them to be. "Has he given you reason to believe you're betraying him?"

"Well … no. Him and Cammy have really seemed to hit if off. They didn't even need me to introduce them. He's supportive of me, if anything, the little bugger." Cranky tousled Kenny's hair.

"So then the problem is …?"

"I dunno."

"The problem is you." Wagner said with finality, emphasizing his point with a nod. He didn't say it in a mean way, more like he was confirming a fact. "You're a very selfless guy to the people you love, Crankurt, and I admire you for it. You cast away your carefree life on the streets and assumed responsibility for Kenny while I was a fucking delinquent sent to live with Guile. We were the same age when I needed someone there for me, and you were responsible enough for yourself to take some kid under your wing. And for my sister, you've saved her from herself, given her a reason to continue living and believe me, since you came into her life, it's becoming easier and easier for Cammy to bury that past and move on towards her future with you.

"But at some point … the love and protection you've offered Cammy and Kenny have become an obsession. You want to be the one in control, watching their every move so they won't go off and hurt themselves. I personally call it the Alpha Male syndrome. Watch out for all the little ones and the females and don't let anyone get near them or you'll rip them apart. Well we're not animals, Crankurt. We're human. And that's not how humans work."

"It's not like that," Cranky said defensively.

"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's only natural for someone to want to keep their loved ones safe. But …"

"I'm suffocating them with it," Cranky droned, remembering the long talk he had with Julian and Wagner back at the bar in Osaka.

"That's right. Just because you're not there at their side twenty-four seven doesn't mean …" Wagner paused. "Finish the sentence, Crankurt."

"Doesn't mean I don't love them."

"You say it," Wagner said, "but do you mean it here?" He jabbed his finger into Cranky's chest.

Cranky nodded in agreement first and then spoke. "Yeah, I think I do. I mean, it all makes sense but I guess I just have to get used to that kind of logic. And that's gonna take some time, but I think I'll live through it."

"Do you guys mind?" Kenny suddenly asked, having been roused from his sleep. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning loudly. "You're in my bubble."

"Sorry," Wagner apologized and backed off a step.

As soon as Kenny had lifted his head, the blood came rushing back into Cranky's thigh. He grasped at it, wincing in pain from the pins and needles.

"What are you guys blabbering about, anyway?" Kenny asked. "It better be important enough to wake me from my beauty sleep."

"We were just discussing about some arrangements after the tournament ends," Wagner said. "I'll let your brother explain it to you." Wagner got up from his seat, taking a glance at Juli to make sure she was still comfortable, and left.

"Well, what is it?" Kenny asked when Cranky wasn't speaking up even after Wagner had disappeared around the bend of the corridor.

Cranky's mouth moved but produced no sound as he tried to find the right words. "Kenny, you're not a kid anymore and …"

"Oh, thanks for finally realizing that," Kenny interrupted sarcastically. "Anyway, go on."

Cranky glared at him for a second before continuing. "And like you promised yesterday at Mr. Ohgi's place, I'm going to trust you to be completely responsible for yourself for at least a few years."

"And … what have I been doing since, I dunno, before you made your magical reappearing act in my life?"

"Wagner's agreed to let you room in with him, for a couple of years until you're out of high school. I'll be in England starting up my own business and just getting my life on track. In that time, Wagner's gonna help you find a school, shelter you, feed you, all of that. It's a very selfless thing for him to do and I don't want you fucking _any _of it up."

"Oh please, what kind of a person do you think I am?"

Cranky said nothing but tilted his head at the teen.

"Well, okay, fine, but at least I have manners."

"Use them," Cranky ordered, "like you've never used them before."

"Wow …" Kenny said, considering what had just been told to him.

"I know you're not used to having to answer to anyone, but while you're staying under his roof, you will abide by the rules Wagner sets. He comes from a military family and you know how strict on discipline they are. So all the lip you can get away with me will _not _fly with them. Am I making myself clear or are you just nodding like that to shut me up?"

"No, no. I get it. But are you letting me have any say in this?"

"No. Not as long as you're still a minor. When you've graduated, you'll be eighteen and then you can do whatever you want. You can move out of Wagner's, rent a place of your own, or come stay with me in England. I should have my own place by then. Whatever you want, you're free to do – but that doesn't happen until you're eighteen."

"Whatever I want?" Kenny inquired. "That usually entails me doing what _you _want."

"When you're out of school, what I would _like _is for you to come and stay with me in England. Of course, I realize you'll be technically an adult by then so I won't make you. I meant what I said, Kenny. You're free to do whatever you want by then."

"So … you're not really trusting me to be on my own then."

"Look, I'm just trying to do the right thing, okay? Don't make this hard for me, Kenny."

"Alright, alright!" Kenny said, turning away from Cranky. "Geez, I'll do it already, just stop talking like that."

"Atta boy," Cranky said, throwing his arm around Kenny's shoulders.

"God, I hate it when you get all emotional and sentimental. It's so fucking embarrassing." Kenny flipped the hood of his sweater over his head and hunched over, hiding his face from immediate view.

Cranky let out a laugh. He still got a kick out of embarrassing Kenny. Some things really do never change. Memory wipe or not.

**XXXXX**

**Boxing Gym**

**Bangkok, Thailand**

Cammy noticed the Shadowlaw goons moving cautiously that day, constantly looking over their shoulder to double check they had done their duties correctly. The guards lost their cocky smiles, their arrogant swaggers and the temple attendants were a lot more submissive, if they could be any more, that is. Though Cammy didn't officially know why, she was able to take an educated stab at the reason.

Bison was pissed.

And why wouldn't he? The three members of his precious bodyguard panel had been systematically taken out, even with the Shadow Technology within their systems. That act alone displayed the talents of the world warriors that had surpassed his expectation in the tournament. Bison most likely wanted them to be strong enough to be useful as AID agents, but at this rate, they were too strong to even succumb to the technology.

Cammy found herself dwelling on the matter than she would've liked. She cleared her mind and threw a gloved punch, straight into a burlap punching bag hanging from the ceiling of the gym by a single chain. She chained it with another in succession, and threw in a couple of kicks for the hell of it. Her heart wasn't into her training this time, probably because of the upcoming showdown with Bison in just over an hour.

She wished her loved ones were right beside her now, to comfort her. She wished Wagner was here to pull of a stupid act, and end up falling flat on his face just to make her laugh, or Guile to soothe her with his comforting touch, which never failed to make her feel safe and protect her. She wished Jane was here for the emotional support, and Cranky to know that if anything happened to her, he'd be valiantly throwing himself into battle after her.

Deciding the stale, sweaty air of the boxing gym was getting the better of her, Cammy decided to leave the decrepit establishment. The burlap punching bag probably couldn't take much more abuse anyway and the boxing ring was falling apart. She thought about showering before she left, after having worked up a sweat in that humid facility, but then decided against it as it the sweat would just reform on her body in the humid air. Besides, Cammy didn't want to see what the water from the taps would look like in a place like that.

On leaving the gym, she bumped straight into Ryu.

"Hello," he said formally, with a little upbeat cheer in his tone.

"What are you doing here?" she cried.

"Heading to the tournament grounds," he replied, tilting his head towards a random direction that always amazed Cammy. Ryu seemed to be in constant awareness of where he was on a continental scale, and which way was north. She supposed she couldn't expect anything less from a seasoned traveler – a traveler who did so on FOOT, may she add. "I thought perhaps you'd like to join me for the journey."

"Sure," Cammy agreed, "I'll call a cab."

"Well I was planning on walking there …"

"Don't be ridiculous. We'll never make it there on time."

"I walk fast, Cammy."

"Well I don't. This fight's important, Ryu. We should be saving every ounce of energy we've got for Bison."

Something in Ryu's expression didn't make her feel any easier. It was his downcast gaze that told her something, the way his lips moved like he wanted to say something to correct her, but didn't bring himself to do it. There was something obviously bothering Ryu, something other than Bison. And it probably affected her too, considering he looked like he was ready to spill everything to her. Or perhaps not, now that he chose not to say anything in the end. Still, Cammy couldn't shake the feeling that something else was wrong even as they climbed into an awaiting cab on the side of the road that pulled them in the direction Ryu had previously tilted his head to.

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw Base, Outside**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Aaron awoke to choking smoke and intense heat. He couldn't have been out for long as the fires that burned the debris of the chopper raged on. Pieces of scrap metal and torn branches lay all about him. His entire body felt as if it were made of lead, and every movement he made put him in a world of pain. He winced as he got to his feet, the joints of his limbs resisting his efforts with bursts of sharp pain. The main body of the chopper lay a few meters away, a burnt shell of its once majestic glory. He remembered telling everyone to dive out of the vehicle once the door had been smashed open upon landing, just moments before it erupted into flames. He remembered the screams of panic, his fellow passengers leaping out of the aircraft. He remembered jumping out with Dorian in his arms. But … where was everyone now?

He looked around for signs of any other survivors. Luwanda lay between a pair of boulders, face down on the forest floor. Aaron thought her dead upon first glance, until she moaned in pain, probably similar to his, and struggled to get up. Katarina's fall had been cushioned by McCoy, both of them slowly sitting up from the ground. From around the other side of the vehicle, Wolfman appeared with Ginzu, the pilot's arm thrown over the Colonel's shoulder as they limped together into view. But where was Dorian?

"Everyone okay?" Wolfman asked, coughing through the smoke.

"Oh God," Katarina gasped, putting a hand to her open mouth, "he's not still in the helicopter, is he?"

"No," Aaron was quick to interrupt her. "I remember jumping from the chopper with him. But I can't find him anywhere now."

"He couldn't have gotten far," McCoy said. "He should still be around here somewhere."

"It depends how long we were out for."

"Not long at all," Wolfman interjected, "I never lost consciousness. It's probably been two or three minutes since the chopper caught fire after we crash landed. Dorian's got to be around here somewhere. We've got to look for him."

"Anyone here hurt?" Luwanda asked while she simultaneously ran her hands along her curvaceous body looking for any sign of injury as everyone else mirrored her.

"I think I busted my foot up pretty good," Ginzu offered, "but I'm okay otherwise."

"I think I'll be okay," McCoy said.

"Same here," Katarina added.

"I don't think I've gotten any new injuries," Luwanda said, though that stab wound's fucking killing me! The fall must've irritated it."

"You stay here and get some rest," Wolfman ordered. "The rest of us will search around for Dorian."

"He's a pretty light kid," Aaron said, "so perhaps he got thrown farther than the rest of us."

"Oh my gosh, AARON!" Katarina screamed in horror.

He turned to face her. "What is it, Kat?" he asked.

"There's a fucking piece of wood embedded into your shoulder blade!" Luwanda cried. "D…don't move!"

"I'll be fine," Aaron said, waving off their concerns. "It doesn't hurt."

"You're still in shock," Katarina explained. "The pain will set in later. In the meantime, I think you should rest here with Luwanda. We'll get that wound taken care of later."

"I've got it taken care of right here!" Aaron said, annoyed at their misplaced concern. They shouldn't have been worried about him. Dorian was missing! He reached over his shoulder with his opposing arm and tore the wooden branch out of his flesh, and screamed in agony, realizing when it was too late that it was embedded quite deeply.

"What are you doing?" Katarina screeched. She half ran and half limped over to him, ripping more fabric from the bottom of her white skirt as she went.

"Fuck, Kat …" Aaron hissed through tears, "I'm such a dumbass. Damn, I had no idea …"

Even as he spoke, Katarina got to work right away, wrapping the strip of fabric tightly around his torso, careful to apply as much pressure as she could to the wound. "If I keep this up," she said, "I won't have much of a skirt left."

**XXXXX**

**Over Thailand**

The brilliant flash of light stunned Kenny, temporarily blinding him as he gazed out the window of Ken Masters' private jet while he was busy admiring the landscape of the lush Thai jungles below. It came suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a bright flash of light erupting just over the emerald green canopy followed by an eruption of flame, a giant fireball in the sky suddenly making its way groundward. Moments later, he felt the cabin of the plane shake, likely from the shockwave that followed a few seconds later. The others hadn't noticed a thing, the slight vibration in sync with the minor turbulence they had to endure most of the way of the flight.

Cranky had dozed off beside Kenny, his head resting uncomfortably on the teenager's bony shoulder while he snored reality away. Kenny grasped Cranky's shoulder and shook him lightly.

"Yo, Crank, wake up," he whispered.

"Zz … huh, what?" Cranky said, stirring.

"There was an explosion out there," Kenny explained, pointing out the window.

Cranky rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What are you talking about? What explosion?"

"I saw it," Kenny insisted, "outside just above the trees. Look, you can still see the smoke!" Cranky moved him aside to look out the window for himself. Kenny knew he wouldn't believe him, that it was just a figment of his imagination, but as soon as he saw it for himself …

"Holy shit," Cranky gasped. He turned back from the window. "Do you think we should tell Masters?"

But Kenny had already leapt from his seat, running down the aisle towards the cockpit where Ken likely sat with the pilot. He dashed past Julian, almost causing the faux Catholic priest to spill a mug of hot coffee over the fine plush carpets.

"Where are you going?" Julian cried out in confusion.

"There's something I think we should investigate," Kenny replied, without slowing down a step. Julian stared after him in confusion, then shrugged and continued on his way back towards his seat.

Kenny burst through the door of the cockpit, taking Ken and the pilot by surprise.

"Hey, kiddo, what's got you so worked up?" Ken asked, turning around.

"Outside … boom … big boom …" Kenny wheezed. He rested his forehead against the back of his hand, holding onto the doorframe for support as he panted for air.

Ken cocked an eyebrow. "You really need to quit smoking and work out a little …" he said, unimpressed with the youth's stamina. The plane wasn't that long and the run shouldn't have taken so much out of a normal healthy human being. "How's the plane doing?" Ken asked his pilot.

"All systems seem to be performing fine," he replied, equally perplexed as Ken as to what the teenager was referring to.

"No, no," Kenny said, shaking his head. "There was an explosion outside. I think we should check it out!"

"We're about a thousand feet in the air," Ken replied. "Where was this explosion? In midair?"

"Yes!" Kenny cried, still struggling for breath. He pointed his finger urgently to the ground.

"How's the ground for landing?" Ken asked his pilot.

"It's mostly wild grass and soil," the pilot replied. "Not the most ideal for a smooth landing, but there should be little to no damage to the actual plane itself."

"It was an aircraft," Kenny pressed. "It probably malfunctioned or something, I'm not quite sure. We've gotta go check for survivors!"

"Alright," Ken said, believing the youth's every word. "Let's go check this out. But we can't waste too much time. The final fight with Bison should be starting in an hour or two."

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw Base, Outside**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

They'd spent the last ten minutes searching their immediate surroundings, leaving no stone unturned, and still wound up with no sign of Dorian. Even Luwanda and a recently bandaged Aaron helped search where they could and stopped only when their wounds gave them trouble. Aaron, sweaty with effort, dehydrated and overheated collapsed against a boulder, trying his best to ignore the pain radiating from his shoulder, and pressed his fingertips into his temples in frustration.

"I don't get it," he said to Luwanda sitting beside him, who had long surrendered herself to her stab wound. "We just crash landed. There's no way he could've been thrown that far from the chopper, especially when I had him when we jumped out."

"You lost consciousness," she suggested, "and perhaps he ran away to find help."

"With Shadowlaw forces in the area? Wolfman walked out of the wreckage fine and he didn't even see Dorian go. If he did, you think he'd have allowed the kid to get away?"

"Assuming the child ran away to begin with." Neither Luwanda nor Aaron had spoken those words to each other. It was a voice from the farthest reaches of Aarons memory, one so familiar, and yet sinister. He shot a glance to Luwanda who only sat on the ground, staring defiantly at whoever stood behind Aaron, lips pressed into a thin line. But there was nothing he could do to fight back physically in her current condition. Slowly, Aaron turned, looking over his shoulder and saw the recognizable form of …

"Vega!" he hissed in rage. There was the man who had so brutally raped his sister. He was lucky that Aaron hadn't been near them at the time or Vega wouldn't be standing in front of them right now. Katarina had spent years of blood, sweat and tears to resurrect him from the dead, and though Bison paid her well, it wasn't the money that motivated her. It was her love for the psycho that drove her relentlessly. And this was how he paid her back for giving him the gift of life. He penetrated her, raped her, when all she could do was cry out helplessly and scream. Aaron was glad that Vega stood before him now, so he could give the man the punishment his actions cried out for.

"No worries," Vega said, ignoring Aaron's outcry. "We've brought the child back here for you. Genta!"

Genta Iwagaki, a promising Shadowlaw soldier stepped up to Vega's side with the young Dorian Marquez thrown lazily over his shoulder, out like a light bulb. The youth smirked cockily at Aaron.

"I hope the landing wasn't too rough for you."

"You caused us to crash, you little shit!" Aaron lunged at the youth but was only able to make it a few feet when Luwanda seized his elbow and held him back with a surprisingly strong grip.

"No," she said, "he's only trying to get the better of you. Lose your self control and we all lose!"

"Get away from Vega," Aaron said, trying to convince Genta to reconsider his alliances. "He's dangerous."

Genta took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled slowly. "Smell that?" he asked. "That's the smell of destruction, the smell of danger. That's what we were trained for, _Sensei._" The term was used so respectfully, it was more condescending than anything. "And now you advise me to run from danger, to run from the very circumstances in which I live my life? Who have you become?" As Genta spoke, the bitterness left his voice and gave way to the confusion, hurt and betrayal that lay underneath.

"I was mistaken to have taught you everything I have," Aaron admitted apologetically. "I know I can't expect you to just give up everything you've learned your whole life. But I need you to trust me as you always have."

"Look at how he cowers," Vega pointed out. "Look at how weak your Sensei has made himself, Genta. This is what happens when you leave the protection of Shadowlaw. You become pathetic, in need of protection from organizations with nothing but a name to them. Delta Red." Vega scoffed.

"Whether you stick with Shadowlaw or throw your ego aside and trust me, the choice is yours, Genta," Issei said. "But whatever happens to Dorian is not. He has nothing to do with this. Just leave him be."

"No," Genta agreed, "but he was in the prison cells for a reason, and I'm sure Master Bison will be wanting him back. And if I did care for the brat's life, I certainly wouldn't be depositing him into your 'capable' hands."

"What's going on here?" Wolfman, Ginzu, McCoy and Katarina reappeared from the thicket, probably drawn back from their search by the conversation. The Delta Red members of the search party looked at Vega curiously, leaving only Katarina to reel back in shock.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she gasped in surprise.

"Masters was supposed to have taken you out in the tournament," Wolfman added, pointing a shaky finger at Vega.

"Oh and he did quite a job," Vega recalled bitterly, caressing the three pronged claw strapped to his right wrist. "But the Shadow Technology – it works wonders, you know. And I have our dear Katarina to thank for that."

"Don't you fucking say another word to her!" Aaron cried, jumping protectively in front of his sister. "From now on, Vega, you and I will do the talking." He pounded a fist into his open palm.

Vega only shook his head in disappointment. "You're nothing but a lump of muscle, Issei," he said. "Not even a decent looking one at that."

"And by the time I'm finished with you," Aaron spat back, "I'm going to look like a fucking model next to your rearranged face."

Vega scoffed. "This will be interesting." He turned his attention back to Genta. "Take Dorian back to the base," he ordered. "I'll deal with this hideous beast myself."

"Oh, neither of you will be going anywhere," McCoy interjected, standing directly in Genta's path, sure of the fact that his sheer size would intimidate the youth.

Genta merely smirked and quick as lighting, reached into a dark leather pouch strapped around the waist of his army fatigues, and tossed something at McCoy. The Delta Red agent wasn't able to decipher what it was as he found his vision suddenly went black and a sharp stinging sensation was introduced to his eyes.

"Holy shit!" McCoy cried, rubbing his eyes painfully. Genta performed a swift kick that connected with the side of his head, flooring the behemoth of a man in a second. Aaron ran to the man's aid but veered off course in an attempt to avoid a punch delivered by Genta.

"Come on, Sensei," Genta mocked, "show me what you're made of."

"You know this isn't smart of you, Genta," Aaron warned. But his warning went unheeded as the youth followed up with a violent roundhouse, smashing his knee into Aaron's midsection, and brought his leg around again for a hook kick to his lower back. Aaron seized his protégé's leg with an arm, catching it between his elbow and waist, and kicked the youth's balancing leg out from under him, bringing him down to the dirt ground. Somewhere overhead, he thought he heard the engines of a jet screaming, but he was too caught up in to the fight to have his attention diverted. Dorian's unconscious body was thrown a few feet away, and though Aaron worried for his safety, Genta was doing a good job of keeping him occupied to check on the boy.

Luwanda threw herself over Dorian's body and pulled him to a safer distance while the fight continued, to prevent his small body from being trampled as Aaron and Genta traded blows, feet dancing around Dorian. Vega pounced then, ready to take Luwada out with his claw while she was defenseless trying to defend the civilian child.

"No!" Wolfman cried and threw himself in the Spanish matador's path, earning him a vicious swipe of the claw across the chest. Woflman cried out in pain and grasped his chest with an arm. He could already feel the warm blood seeping through his clenched fingers. Vega pulled his clawed arm back for another strike, but when he tried to bring it forward for a fatal slash, found that it wasn't cooperating.

Katarina had snuck up from behind him and held him by the elbow now. Before Vega could even utter a word, she jabbed the toe of her heeled shoes into the back of his knee, forcing her ex-lover to stumble. Maintaining her grip on his elbow,s he flipped him over backwards onto the ground and jumped back before he could retaliate with a strike to her leg.

Genta kicked his leg straight up while he lay on the ground, his heel connecting with Aaron's jaw. The larger man was thrown back with the force of the kick which was much more powerful than one of the youth's size would be able to deliver. He remembered Genta saying something about being powered by the psycho drive back in the base. So with him drawing his source of energy from the very same Psycho Drive that Bison used, and with Vega embedded with the Shadow Technology inside him, Aaron realized that this was going to be an uphill battle despite the advantage in numbers he and Delta Red had over Genta and Vega.

Aaron reeled back grasping his jaw and spat on the ground – a bloody wad of spit. He reached into his sash and tossed the remaining of his ninja stars at the youth. Genta jumped to an astonishingly high level and turned his body parallel to the ground, allowing the stars to pass by him harmlessly; one flying above his head, the other just missing his hip. Genta landed quietly as a cat, rolled towards Aaron, and performed a low sweep which was promptly blocked.

Meanwhile, Katarina and Wolfman had their hands full trying to contain Vega, but he was just too quick for them; bouncing off bits of wreckage, boulders and trees, and coming back at them with his claw stabbing dangerously in their directions. Both Wolfman and Katarina had suffered deep gashes and were rapidly losing their energy for the fight, and Vega was only just beginning, dodging their return strikes with grace and agility, coming back at them with another jab and bouncing away again. He was playing the hit and run game, as if he was toying with them, waiting for them to wear themselves out before he moved in for the kill.

"If only we could get that damned claw off of him!" Katarina grunted in the most unwomanly fashion through tightly clenched teeth. "I'm gonna rip it off and shove it so far up his goddamned ass he'll be puking it out!"

"Get on the defensive," Wolfman advised, "let him come at as and block or parry his strikes, but don't waste too much strength trying to retaliate. It's obvious that tactic isn't working for us."

Genta had just managed to avoid a powerful upward slash from Aaron's combat knife with a back flip that brought him next to Luwanda, who had Dorian wrapped protectively in her arms. He seized the woman by the hair at the back of her head and hoisted her up to her feet screaming and thrashing in agony. He pulled her close to his body and held his own knife to her throat.

"One more move, Issei," and this woman is dead. Aaron froze, not knowing what to do. His whole life, he was always the one to be on the threatening end of the deal, the man with the knife to someone's throat, not the valiant hero. He found this role a little uncomfortable, unsure if he could ever get used to this feeling of helplessness. Genta seemed to read his thoughts as he smiled, running the sharp blade across her throat gently.

"Now, perhaps you realize you've made the wrong choice," Genta said. "Maybe this will make you think twice about allying yourselves with the enemy?"

"Even if I choose to return to Shadowlaw now," Aaron replied, "Bison would still have me killed for this treachery. I've worked for the man for twenty years. I know how the organization works."

"Arrogant as ever," Genta snorted. "That's why you're in this predicament. And you have nobody to blame but yourself." He turned his attention to Vega, who had somehow backed himself into a corner with Katarina and Wolfman looking like they were ready to pounce on him. "I've got the upper hand, Master!" he cried out proudly. "I think it's safe to say we've won this battle."

"Good job, my boy," Vega replied, getting to his feet, scooping up Dorian and throwing the boy over his shoulder. "Now why don't you use your advantage to finish this battle? I'll be keeping an eye out for you."

A new realization dawned on Genta just as the words left Vega's mouth. He wasn't planning on leaving it up to him to finish the battle, was he? But his fear was confirmed as Vega reached out and grabbed Katarina and Wolfman's heads, and smashed them together, rendering both fighters stunned, but still in the fight. Vega rose to his feet and somersaulted into the canopy of the trees, where he vanished without a trace.

Genta could only stare in shock at the spot where Vega once stood, unable to absorb the fact that he'd just been left on his own to defend himself against a group of angry, trained soldiers. He fully expected Aaron to make his move then, but the Admiral just stood there with his arms crossed, a disappointed frown spread across his features.

"Now do you believe what I say about that organization?" he asked. "That's what they did to me. They used me to get what they wanted by feeding me lies about the family I held dearest to my heart. They're using you too, Genta." He reached out to the youth who only swiped back savagely.

"Don't come near me!" he screamed. Emotions were building inside him now. Or at least he wanted to believe that Aaron was wrong, that his instincts about Shadowlaw were right all along, that they unselfishly took him off the streets and helped raise him within their organization. Now he had been betrayed by both Vega and Aaron and this wasn't something he was ready to take, let alone accept lightly.

"You're all traitors!" Genta declared, pointing an accusing finger at Aaron. By now, he had released Luwanda who slumped to the ground, her hands wrapped around her throat, feeling for breaks in the skin. At that moment, the electricity in the air rose tenfold. A concentration of energy formed around Genta's body. The life energy his body emanated began to take on a purple hue, while the pupils in his eyes faded from dark brown to a light gray. The sight startled Aaron, forcing him to take a step back away from the hideous visage. "That's all you care about – looking after your own asses. You pretend to care, pretend to appreciate us street kids for our talents. But you're right, Sensei. They were using us in the end. You were ALL using us in the end!"

"No, that's not true!" Aaron protested.

"Now!" McCoy suddenly signaled, and he leapt into action with Ginzu behind him. They jumped at Genta, hoping to restrain the youth, but collided in the air with some sort of invisible barrier that threw them back to the ground. The grass at the youth's feet was turning black slowly from the negative energy emanating off his body; a telltale sign of the Psycho Drive's destructive force.

Genta hooked his fingers into a claw, causing a purple energy ball to form in the palm of his hand, and he tossed it at Aaron who took the brunt of it in the chest. He felt the wind knocked out of him, the impact crushing the air out of his lungs, and threw him into a boulder. Wolfman attacked next but Aaron's flying body crashed into his and both men were sent tumbling a few yards across the ground. Katarina moved in next but Genta performed a solid uppercut, knocking her into the air. As gravity reclaimed her and she fell back to the ground, he performed a spinning back kick aimed high and floored her with a bone crunching thud.

**XXXXX**

Not even Genta was expecting himself to be able to wield so much power, but here it was, the power of the Psycho Drive showing him exactly what it and him were made of when forged together. And the result was wonderful. He felt the renewed strength coursing through his veins, brought to life by the intense negative emotions he felt just seconds prior. So this was all it took to bring out such power. All he had to do was feel shitty. Given the recent events, he supposed it wasn't that hard to feel that way.

"Issei!" someone cried from behind him. Genta was surprised to see a fiery-haired stranger running towards him, showing concern for the group of fighters he'd just taken out. Behind the stranger ran a small group of people, a blond haired man, another one of darker complexion, a smaller oriental teenager around Genta's age, and a lithe woman. The group raced towards them from a small jet parked about a quarter of a kilometer away in the middle of an expansive field. Genta turned back to his former Sensei who was now picking himself up off the ground, wincing as he went.

"Cranky!" Aaron cried. "Get away from here! This isn't your fight …" But Aaron lost his words as he noticed Kenny running towards them. Kenneth Feng; the youngest, most mysterious member of his family. What in the world was he doing here? And Genta was standing right … SHIT!

Just as Cranky approached, Genta threw another fireball at the unwelcome stranger. Cranky wasn't expecting the assault and took the fireball in the face. He stumbled for a few seconds, fell on his knees, and face planted into the ground. Genta stared after him, lying there in the ground while the oriental teenager crouched over his body, trying to shake the man awake, but to no avail.

**XXXXX**

"Cranky wake the fuck up!" Kenny cried desperately, but there was no mistaking it – the man was out cold. He looked up at Cranky's assailant, making sure to get a good image of him in his mind so he'd remember which face to break in the future.

"Kenny, you stay here and try to wake him up," Julian said, finding a place between this strange teenager and the brothers with Wagner alongside him. "We'll take care of this kid, whoever he is."

"Well, it looks like Shadowlaw is ripe with traitors," the mysterious teen said. "Even the Agent Initiative's first soldiers have chosen to switch sides."

"Who the hell are you?" Julian hissed.

"Genta Iwagaki," the teen replied, "the successor to Admiral Issei's title, promising Shadowlaw soldier, current wielder of the Psycho Drive, fifteen years old."

"Seems like we've found a lot more than just survivors," Julian noted gravely to Wagner, who nodded in agreement.

Kenny noticed Genta narrowing his eyes at him, taking glances at him more than once or twice. Kenny stared back with his own defiant glare, not knowing what could have possibly been going through Genta's mind. He could sense the energy emanating off Genta. It was so powerful, one didn't even need to be sensitive to these things to feel it. Facing him in battle wouldn't be a smart idea. Kenny wasn't even sure if Wagner and Julian combined could take him on.

"Anta ga dare?" _Who are you? _Genta suddenly said in Japanese.

"Dare ga shiritai?" _Who wants to know? _Kenny shot back.

"You understood," Genta smiled, switching to back to English. "I thought you looked familiar."

"What?"

Genta turned to face Aaron. "Friend of yours?" he asked him, tipping his chin in Kenny's direction.

"Your fight is with me, Genta!" Aaron said, the urgency rising in his voice.

Genta raised pointed his palm at Kenny, who only looked back in confusion. But confusion turned into fear when he saw a purple hued fireball appear in it hand, and he suddenly felt the chi in the air raise exponentially. Aaron's mouth gaped open in shock as he tried to run to tackle Genta, to stop him from firing the projectile attack, but fear kept him rooted to the spot.

"The resemblance in astounding," Genta said with amusement. "Everything you hold dearest, Issei Sensei." And the shot was fired.


	40. Interlude

**Shadowlaw Base, Tournament Arena**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

It had barely been a few days since Cammy and Ryu had touched down in Thailand and she still found it hard to ignore the humid heat so thick, she could just about brush it with her fingertips. But she tried nonetheless, to push it to the edges of her consciousness, along with the jeering crowd that surrounded the fighting arena, here in some Buddhist temple in a remote area of Thailand. Remote was the word most people would have used to describe her immediate surroundings, if not for the fact that the final rounds of the Street Fighter tournaments were taking place here, today, right now. This was the fight she had been training for – the one opportunity where she would get the chance to face the very man responsible for all the torment in her life, and countless others. M. Bison.

Cammy was aware of the kind of weight bearing down on her shoulders. So many people would have killed for the opportunity that graced her now; Chun Li, for the death of her father, Guile, for the death of his best friend, T. Hawk, for the pride of his people lost to Shadowlaw, Juli, for the loss eleven years of her life never to be returned, Julian, for his family and the son he never knew he had … and those were merely the lives ruined by Shadowlaw of which Cammy was aware, not counting her own, not counting Kenny's. Come to think of it, and she remembered only now, that she was fighting for him too, much too young for him to fight on his own.

_**DONG …**_

Someone struck the grand bell hanging a few paces off to her left. The crowd immediately fell silent, signaling that the fight was about to start. And yet, her opponent was nowhere to be seen.

_**DONG …**_

The bell rang again, and it was only now that Cammy turned to look. A large log, hoisted on the shoulders of four strong looking young monks garbed in orange robes. The end of the log that struck the brass bell had been worn smooth with a ring of splinters along its circumference after years of use.

Then something happened. Just a few feet in front of where Cammy stood, a column of black smoke sprung from the ground, seemingly out of nowhere. The dark spirals coiled and circled each other, moving upward all the while, growing thicker, wider and denser with every inch in height it gained. Once it had reached just over what Cammy estimated to be six feet, the smoke gradually dispersed and in its place stood M. Bison himself, purple glowing eyes looking out at her from the darkness provided by the brim of his red had. His broad body intimidated her, despite being hidden underneath a thick black cape.

**XXXXX**

**Beyond the tournament grounds**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Upon contact, the energy ball that erupted from Genta's outstretched palm caused an explosion so powerful, it took everyone off their feet. Ken Masters was lifted high into the air, crashing right into Julian, planting both heavily built men to the ground. Wagner was no exception, as he had been knocked near unconsciousness, blinking heavily in the attempt to remain aware and alert.

Kenny had his arms over his head, eyes squeezed tightly shut, wondering if this darkness he saw was what being dead was like. It had only lasted a split second, but his thoughts were racing so fast, it could've been an eternity and he wouldn't have noticed the difference. This timelessness was so surreal, so peaceful that he could have remained in this state forever and it would have sat just fine with him –

THUD.

Something crashed to the ground landing right in front of him. Kenny realized he was alive when he opened his eyes only to see a world of brightness, and suddenly his senses began to return. The charred stench of cooking metal burned his nose. His limbs gradually regained their mass. The dryness returned to his mouth.

What happened to him?

Apparently, nothing, when he saw Cranky's face looking up at him from the ground, eyelids slowly closing on his emerald irises.

"Run," Cranky mouthed.

And then it made sense to Kenny. He thought Cranky had been knocked out cold from the initial blow that Genta delivered, but he held on to consciousness just long enough to absorb the second shot meant for Kenny.

"No!" Kenny cried. He hoisted Cranky into a sitting position, and struggled to hold his limp body sitting upright.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" Kenny wailed, his voice cracking with sorrow, shaking Cranky's limp body violently. "I could've taken it Crank, I could've! Why did you go off and fucking kill yourself when I could've taken the hit?" But Cranky wasn't listening. Kenny couldn't detect any breathing and his body was dead weight. And then the sorrow hit him, gripping his vital organs so hard, it hurt to breathe. And yet, a suppressed sob managed to find it way painfully out of Kenny's mouth. "I could have …" Kenny cried once more into Cranky's unhearing ears.

"Wasting his life for washed up trash like you," Genta snorted at Kenny.

"Who the hell …" Kenny's thoughts were filled with unprintable words expressing incomprehensible resentment for this face he did not recognize, but had taken someone important to him for no apparent reason.

"I knew you looked familiar," Genta continued. "At first I thought it was the resemblance to Admiral Issei. But it's more than that, now that I recall."

"I'm more than any Shadowlaw scum," Kenny shot back angrily, his hateful glare burning holes into Genta's despicable visage.

"Big words coming _from_ Shadowlaw scum," Genta retorted. "Once an icon for our great organization, a milestone for our technological and scientific achievements. And look at you now – without the technology that made you so powerful. Instead, it's being used to power the next generation of Shadowlaw warriors – and I intend to lead the way. And you … completely useless now that you've left the organization."

"That's enough!" Juli cried, cutting off any chance Kenny had at verbal redemption. She turned to Genta and hissed at him. "Shadowlaw took more than just my life away from me. They took my identity as an individual. What makes you think you're so different? Just because you can still think for yourself? What do you think will save you once Bison decides to mass manufacture Agent Initiative soldiers?"

"The fact that I have talents," Genta replied coolly, directing Juli's attention to Cranky, who was a good head taller than Genta and much more built, lying unconscious on the ground, "while _you_ simply had the right body type." The cocky grin appeared on his face again. "I hear Master Bison likes his women especially young."

That was all Kenny could stand now as his anger flared suddenly, casting a red tinge to everything around him. His left eye made a sudden twitch as he fixed his gaze on the hateful sight of Genta. The Shadowlaw youth could've been Kenny's twin under different circumstances. They were the same age, similar hairstyles, only Genta's was a little shorter nearing a buzz cut, shared similar childhoods on the same streets, and physically, both boys were lean and thin.

But fate didn't have friendship planned for them. Shadowlaw ripped Genta off the streets and trained him as one of their own. And as for Kenny, they hunted him like an animal for his father's betrayal of the company. Now this was what they had made of Genta; a self absorbed child with the skills of a trained professional killer. Kenny knew it wasn't smart doing what he did next. But he was so overcome with emotion that the thought of his well being didn't once cross his mind.

Kenny thought he heard cries of protests coming from Aaron, Julian, Wagner, Uncle Ken, and Juli, all of them ordering him to stop his charade. But their voices were distant, barely noticeable. All he could see was Genta's smirking face in the middle of a spiral of red tinted trees and grass, smiling condescendingly at him with his arms folded across his chest. Kenny had never really experienced tunnel vision before though he had heard of the term and if he had, then what he was going through now was definitely it; nothing but his target. Oh, how he would love to scrape that expression off of Genta's face with the dirt on the ground …

"AAAARGGGH!!" Kenny bellowed, throwing his foot at Genta's head, but met with his forearm instead. A quick block. Barely a split second later, he followed up with a swing of his left fist, then his right, and a knee. Genta blocked the left hook, dodged the second, and jumped onto Kenny's raised knee, using it as leverage to perform a back flip to put some distance between him and the irate ex-Shadow Soldier, smashing Kenny's chin with his toes in the process.

Kenny reeled back. A sharp pain radiated from his jaw and into his face. He tasted blood. But it made him all the more angrier. He launched his body at Genta again, without a care in the world what happened to his own body. He just wanted Genta dead. That was the only thought that drove him.

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw Base, Tournament Arena**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Cammy's body met the hard tile floor once again but by now, she had learned to deal with the impact and the physical agony it cost her. She had forgotten what it was like to live without pain for the most part of her life. This final battle with M. Bison was just a small step up, the pain manifesting itself into physical form. If she could make it through the mental anguish the Shadowlaw dictator put her through her whole life, dealing with the injuries sustained in this fight was a cakewalk. The revenge she had a chance at was worth it.

Before she could pick herself off the ground, she noticed her body completely engulfed in Bison's monolithic shadow. He had discarded his cape when the battle commenced and now she could see his scarlet uniform, trimmed with a sharply contrasting black and silver plated armor at his joints. His brought his foot down hard on her shoulder, forcing her to scream out, pinning her to the ground.

"How did you ever make it this far, Cammy?" Bison asked curiously. He spoke to her calmly but sternly, as if she were a naughty child. "You are not unlike the other warriors of the tournament – endowed by the gods with unrivaled skill, but never having the discipline to use it to their advantage, letting their egos and emotions lure them to the tournament. I helped make you what you are today, and I expected much more from you."

"It's surprising to hear," Cammy replied through bloody teeth. "I thought I was just another nameless victim to you."

"Oh no," Bision said slyly, a nauseous grin spreading slowly over his cleft chin. "You weren't nameless."

"Fuck you!" Ignoring the agony exploding from her shoulder, she used her free arm to give Bison's knee an open-palm strike, forcing the dictator to take his foot off of her. Cammy rolled to her feet but her stance was no longer strong and proud as it had been before the round commenced.

Bison came at her, twisting his body sideways in the air and performed a deadly scissor kick. The move was too quick for Cammy's weakened reflexes to register and she absorbed the full impact. She was sent sailing in a wide arch through their air, having her path shattered by the bell with a resounding _dong_ before falling to the ground once again.

This time she couldn't pick herself up. The pain had amplified, but so had the frustration. Bison was too much for her. She had bitten off more than she could chew with her raging emotions. Cammy never once sat down and thought logically about what she wanted to do. She didn't see the means. She only saw the end. And the end involved Bison lying bruised and bloodied at her feet. She never cared about how she would get it done, just as long as it was done. That was her mistake and Cammy had only just realizedit. It was the most basic fundamental philosophy in military unit she had trained with since leaving Shadowlaw and she had always been convinced she was a good soldier because of it. But maybe she didn't take the philosophy preached at her seriously enough. Maybe the only reason she allowed herself to be disciplined in the first place was because it would guarantee a route to Bison. But in the end, what did it all mean to her? How was she applying it now that the opportunity she trained for was presenting itself in front of her? Could she remember everything, or did she only pretend to understand her training?

There was no time to dwell on the question, only time to act.

But a split second of doubt was all it took for Bison to finish Cammy off.

**XXXXX**

**Shadowlaw Base, Arena Stands**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Ryu watched Cammy fight valiantly with everything she had in her small frame. The woman's abilities were something he'd learned to respect over the years. In fact he'd learn long ago never to judge a fighter's capabilities by their size alone. Passing through the mountains of China, Ryu had seen the lean, wiry bodies of monks of different kung fu disciplines fight with fearful speed and precision. He recognized forms and techniques here and there, for Japanese karate was derived from the basic forms of Chinese kung fu. Presently, it was centuries of isolated evolution that kept the two fighting arts developing in different directions.

The techniques that Cammy were using, however, were very twentieth century, based on the traditional fighting forms of some European martial art, but had been updated taking defense in modern times into consideration, as assailants now had the option of attacking with guns and knives. Watching the way Cammy twisted her body expertly through the air in all sorts of elegant flips and tumbles, Ryu could almost see the wide arc of her kicks knocking a firearm from her opponent's hands, leaping arcs over bullet fire, ducking beneath knife slashes.

But her opponent, the dictator M. Bison fought barehanded. There were no visible weapons in his arsenal, but Bison was far from unarmed. Ryu could sense the Psycho Drive powering the dictator's movements, allowing him to move at incredible speeds so inhuman, that even Cammy and her natural agility were having a hard time keeping up with. It had only been a few minutes before the fight was over. Ryu could see it coming but he didn't expect it to end so soon. Cammy had been thrown into the large bell with a force that made him cringe with sympathy. When she landed, it had only been a split second she hesitated before counterattacking Bison's follow up attack. And just like that, it was over and Cammy had been carted off the fighting grounds in a gurney. Bison didn't stick around to gloat – he was far too accomplished, too powerful, too evil of a man to bathe in the glory of his victory in front of cheering crowds he would sooner destroy with a blast of Psycho Energy.

"You're up next, Ryu."

Ryu turned around to his speaker, the announcer of the tournament standing in front of him in person for the first time, his eyes secretively covered by the large shaded lenses of his sunglasses. His thin lips were pressed into a straight line, and the single drop of sweat running down the side of his face told Ryu that he feared for the Shotokan fighter's safety.

Ryu replied with a single, silent nod and rose from his seat from behind the thick glass that allowed him to view the fight beyond without interference. Before he could make his exit, the announcer clasped his hand on Ryu's shoulder.

"You're the only one left," he said, his voice deep with worry. "If Bison isn't brought down …"

Ryu gave him an all knowing glare and the announcer said no more. It was time to fight.


	41. Chapter 34: Vengenace

**Shadowlaw Base, Tournament Arena**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

For a battle decades in the making, there was dramatic confrontation. It had started immediately; no time to exchange words, let alone glances, no warm up stretches, no time for any form of tension to build in the air between the two fighters. Before the announcer could even finish his declaration that the match had begun, the two fighters were upon each other; one of them trained in the art of Shotokan karate, utilizing an amalgamation of his base style with what he'd picked up from years of battle against other warriors, and the other a man (if he could be called that anymore) with the man-made power of the Psycho Drive and the Shadow Technology coursing through his veins.

The destructive clash of natural chi and dark-charged electrons sent sickening waves throughout the battle arena, tearing through even the spectator benches. Supporters of both Shadowlaw and the Street Fighters halted their jeering at once, silenced by having to shield their eyes from the blinding sight.

Minutes into the fight – if it could be called that, since spectators were mostly blinded by the magnificent flashes of colliding opposite forces – a good portion of Pattaya's ambulances were dispatched to the temple. Those initially on stand-by, meant to aid the fallen fighter of the final battle, rushed to help the fallen spectators, the balance in their bodies thrown off by the energy emitted from the fight. One by one, the spectators dropped to the ground like flies while outside help came running in with stretchers and later on, in biohazard suits as well. But there was no poisonous gas, no toxic chemicals, and no deadly virus. Had proper teams been set up to analyze the air, they would have found little more than their malfunctioning equipment and seemingly healthy people fainting all around them.

From the comfort of Ryu's hotel suite, Chun Li had no shortage of options as to how she wanted to view the fight. Every major Thai news channel was broadcasting live, even some of the foreign ones. But she was sadly disappointed when the news cameras showed only glimpses of the Buddhist temple where the final battle was held, showing nothing but fuzzy static in between. She knocked the TV a few times with no change, and continued switching channels, realizing that the few stations not broadcasting the fight were perfectly fine. Was this some kind of sick Shadowlaw trick? What was going on …?

And suddenly the fuzz cut out, giving way to a clear picture of a black haired woman in a pressed red suit, bright scarlet lipstick accenting the quick movements of her mouth. Wind whipped at her hair and try as she might, there was no getting it under control. But she continued to report.

"… seems to be some kind of wide spreading epidemic. Doctors are reporting that the majority of patients are suffering from nausea, cold sweat and headaches, while others have lost consciousness completely."

Chun Li jumped to her feet. This whole time, she was under the impression Bison and Shadowlaw had hosted the tournament to gain precious street fighters for whatever illegal experiments they were planning. She had never imagined they'd use the opportunity to conduct a massive terrorist attack, yet it shouldn't be surprising her as much as it was now.

She seized the phone by the bedside table and prepared to dial Guile's number when she heard a knock on the door.

"Chun Li, it's Guile. Open up."

She dropped the phone and headed straight for the door, seeing the American Air Force pilot standing there, the doorframe barely containing his bulk.

"The Pattayan Buddhist Temple," Guile said, bypassing the greeting.

"There's something weird going on there, I heard on the news," Chun Li interrupted. "We need to ..."

"That's why I'm here," Guile said sternly.

"What?"

"To stop you from going down there."

"Shadowlaw is going through with some kind of terrorist plot as we speak and you're telling me I'm not allowed to go investigate?!"

"One thing, you've barely begun healing from your fight with Sagat. Secondly, there's nothing we can do. People are dropping left and right and the most we'd be capable of is joining them on the ground."

"But …"

"And thirdly, the likeliest cause of this is a side effect of the life force Ryu wields, and the Psycho Drive; two different kinds of energies, both deadly in their own right."

"How do you know this?"

"Your old master, Gen, told me about it. He said he tried calling you as soon as he heard, and to not let you do anything about it. But your phone was off and he contacted me instead."

"You really think that could be the case? Conflicting energies in the air?"

Guile shrugged. "I was never raised to believe this kind of thing, but it's an explanation. I have no idea what else it could be. Anyway, Master Gen is wise and I trust him. And he's told me to come here and make sure you stay put."

**XXXXX**

**Beyond the Tournament Grounds  
Pattaya, Thailand**

If it wasn't for the Shadowlaw uniform Genta donned, or the civilian rags that Kenny wore, the boys would have been nearly indistinguishable from each other as they locked in vicious combat. The stirred air that swooshed around the two of them was stronger than the mild breeze that blew gently through the area, whipping at the long grass stalks around their feet.

Genta fought with speed and military precision, but he was lacking in sufficient strength to do any major damage to his opponent with just a few blows. Kenny, on the other hand, retaliated with fury and nothing else. His form was weak, his footing all over the place, this limbs thrashing like some kind of wild animal. And Genta lacked the mental training to pick apart Kenny's random kicks and punches and successfully predict his next move.

Kenny leapt, pushing his body off the ground with his legs, went airborne, and collided with Genta, his full weight behind a shoulder check. Both teens hit the grass and the fight turned into a wrestling match. Genta was no longer cool and calculating. He was throwing everything he could at Kenny, who was absorbing the hits like a sponge. But he was hurting, not from the injuries received from this fight or even any previous bouts, but for what Cranky had done for him.

"It's not my fault!" Kenny bellowed, sinking his fist into Genta's face. "You killed Cranky!"

Genta flipped Kenny off him, and pinned him to the ground, wrapping his hands tightly around his throat. "That's right, you traitor! And I'm about to squeeze the life out of your useless body too!"

Kenny pried Genta's hands away, grunting with effort, and pushed him away with his feet, earning him enough time to get up. Genta rolled backwards and stood to meet Kenny, who wasted no time in assaulting him again with a fresh wave of elbow strikes and punches.

Standing just a few feet away, Scott Wagner bounced up and down on his heels wanting in on the fight as well. It was painful for him to stand there and watch while Kenny and Genta beat the stuffing out of each other. As much as he liked seeing the Shadowlaw youth hurt, it wasn't worth watching Kenny fight when he was driven by sorrow.

But when Wagner tried to interrupt the battle, he was met with Julian's back, standing directly in his path.

"Don't," Julian said sternly.

"Are you crazy, Marquez?" Wagner had to control himself from bellowing at the faux-Catholic priest. "We have to finish this and get to the tournament arena!"

"Kenny's been a victim of Shadowlaw for long enough," Julian explained calmly. "As their reign is about to end, Kenny needs his own closure too. And this is it." Julian motioned to the teens still going at it as if Julian, Wagner, Aaron, Katarina, Juli, Ken Masters and the members of Delta Red weren't standing around them.

"If he needs help," Julian coninued, "we're here to help him. But Kenny seems to be doing ok on his own."

"I'll never understand you men and your twisted logic," Katarina said, holding her skirt in one hand, marching off towards the battling teens.

"Katarina, don't!" Aaron cried, reaching his hand out after her but she promptly ignored him.

Kenny was astride Genta's body, aiming more punches at his head and receiving no retaliation. "He's defeated Genta," Katarina called back. "And Kenny's still going at it. The fight's over."

She approached Kenny and wrapped her arms underneath his armpits, pulling him away gently from the Genta's unconscious body. "You want to kill me too, huh?" Kenny bellowed in victory. "Come and get me, bitch!" and delivered a swift kick to his ribs while Katarina dragged him away. "Let me go!" he cried. "I want to kill him! Let go!"

"It's finished," Katarina said softly into his ear. "You defeated him. There's nothing more you can do."

"I haven't ripped his head from his shoulders!"

"That's enough," Aaron said sternly.

"DON'T you fucking tell me what to do!" Kenny screamed, jabbing an accusing finger at Aaron. "I wish you people would stop acting like you know me! None of you were there for me for the past decade and suddenly you can just waltz in here and take control of my life! Well, I'm not taking it anymore …"

Kenny was silenced by a quick backhand that Aaron delivered to his temple, flooring the youth alongside Genta in an instant. Wagner and Julian looked at Aaron, both of them wide-eyed, not sure which was more surprising; Kenny's verbal tirade or how Aaron ended it.

"We should get back to the plane," Ken advised grimly.

"Not without him!" Juli said. They turned to see her leaning over Cranky.

"We're not leaving Cranky," Ken said. He turned to Katarina. "How's he doing?"

She shrugged. "He's alive, if that's what you're wondering. The most he'll suffer is a mild concussion. Genta isn't nearly strong enough to produce a lethal energy projectile with the Psycho Drive."

"Figure you folks need a lift?" Ken asked Wolfman, who was tending to the injured members of his team.

The rag tag group headed back towards Ken's parked jet, engines still running. With Ken leading the way, Wagner had Cranky slumped over his shoulder while Julian had Kenny hoisted in the same manner. Juli trudged silently behind Wagner, keeping an eye on Cranky, searching for some kind of movement in his face. A few steps behind them, Aaron and Katarina helped to shoulder the injured Delta Red members. The group had happily left the unconscious bleeding Genta on the ground where he lay. Whether or not Shadowlaw came by to pick him up was none of their concern. Aaron was the only one to look over his shoulder and the teen lying there. Ten years of putting all his knowledge into the boy and this was what was to become of his efforts.

"Chin up, Julian," Wagner said to the faux-Catholic priest.

Julian blinked, having been snapped out of his thoughts unexpectedly. "What do you mean?"

"You're a bad liar."

"I'm not lying," Julian said, almost defensively. "I haven't even said anything."

"Like leaving your son in Vega's capable hands isn't something to be unfazed by."

A relieved smile washed over Julian's features. "Glad you noticed."

"With all the drama flying around, it's hard to keep track of everything," Wagner admitted. "Each and every person here has their own personal issues with Shadowlaw. My sister is about to face Bison – or she already has, I don't know. All I know is she has more than just her life to lose in this battle. Aaron and Katarina have just left the organization that's taken care of them so well for the last decade, and all in good faith. And no doubt, Shadowlaw will not waste any resources in tracking them down and killing them. Ken's worried like hell about Cammy and Cranky … he's got both her and Kenny to worry about. And Kenny, who's just discovered long lost siblings he never knew he had, all while trying to escape Shadowlaw's clutches. You and Dorian, as crucial as your problems with him are, it's easy to forget about other people's problems except your own."

"Is there any reason you're telling me this, Wagner?" Julian asked in a tone Wagner couldn't tell if it meant that he was insulted, or merely curious.

"Just thought you'd like to know…" Wagner replied quietly.

"I know," Julian said, swallowing a lump in his throat that looked a lot like he was trying to push down his sorrow with that simple act. "We'll get Dorian back. We won't let Vega do anything to him."

"That makes more sense to me than any of that religious bullshit you've spat out over the years," Wagner said, cracking a smile.

**XXXXX**

**Tournament Arena**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

"Shinkuu, Hadouken!" Ryu cried, thrusting his palms forward, a bright blue ball of energy erupting from them shooting straight at Bison. The Shadowlaw Dictator swatted the projectile away as if it were little more than a bothersome fly and continued making his way towards the Shotokan warrior. With the distance between the two fighters closed, Bison delivered a head butt to the unsuspecting Ryu, who had expected his fireball to deal at least some damage. Ryu's forehead felt like it had exploded into a million pieces, stars clouding his vision and fought to regain balance.

Bison pressed on, smashing downwards onto Ryu's skull with an overhead strike, fists clenched, shrouded in purple flames, powered by the Psycho Drive. Ryu's body was being thrown about by Bison's power, like a rag doll. His firm stance was reduced to rubber under all the pummeling. By the time Bison had completed his combination attack and eased off for a moment, it looked like Ryu was having issues standing up.

"Don't hold back," Bison said, "don't rob me of the fight I've been looking forward to for years. The Satsui no Hadou; show it to me, Ryu."

"I've overcome it, Bison. The Satsui no Hadou is history."

"Oh? Then how do you expect to win this tournament?" Bison mocked. "You are not a fool, Ryu. You are in this for the fight."

"If you think it's in my nature to compromise my beliefs in the name of victory, then I am will never be victorious and you would be the fool." Ryu punctuated with retort with a hurricane kick, spinning his body gracefully in the air while hit foot pummeled Bison, for this was the last thing the dictator had expected.

"You will not utilize the Satsui no Hadou?" Bison asked. "Then I will force it out of you! Psycho Crusher!"

Ryu fell to the ground, and not a second later, Bison's body sailed over his like a torpedo encased hot purple flame. The tips of Ryu's hair smoked from the heat of the flames. The kind on his face burnt slightly and hurt to the touch.

Bison recovered from the move and continued taunting Ryu. "Come on, warrior. You've never failed to disappoint me before. Why start now? You know you want to harness that dark energy and bring an end to my empire. Think of all the suffering I've put you and your friends through. When our own Killer Bee lured Ken into our trap when he was just a mere teenager." Bison launched into a scissor kick at Ryu, who parried the move and Bison bounced away from the failed strike before Ryu could retaliate.

"Remember when we murdered Charlie Nash in cold blood, took Chun Li's father from her at such a young age."

Ryu threw another fireball at Bison who swatted it away again. "Robbed Marquez of his grandson and absorbed his father's gang into our own ranks, murdered the Wagner family in front of their youngest brat when they were just children, ripped apart the Feng family and gained the trust of the twins, used Kenny as a tool. And all the while we killed, we continued pursuing you."

Ryu struck again; this time, feinting with a mid-level strike. He brought his leg higher, however and sent it crashing down upon Bison. But Bison had somehow anticipated the move, or the Shadow Technology in his body sped up his reaction time to inhuman levels, and he grabbed Ryu's ankle, kicked out his supporting leg, floor the Shotokan warrior. Bison raised his foot and prepared for a stomp down onto Ryu's solar plexus but before he could finish the move, his body froze.

Ryu felt the grip on his ankle ease and Bison suddenly toppled over, his pupil-less eyes never closing. Bison's falling form gave way to an even more worrisome sight. Standing there in thick, dark skin, flaming red hair, dressed in an almost black karate gi was the demon himself, mumbling.

"_Satsui no hadou wo miserareta kattara ..." If you want to see be shown the Satsui no Hadou ... _

**XXXXX**

**Masters Jet**

Ken said the flight would last only a few minutes, but it had already been an eternity when Julian caught himself looking absent-mindedly out the window of Ken's private jet. He had his feet propped up on a low oak coffee table, reclined on a leather sofa Julian could have afforded if he had back all the money he'd spent on drugs. Everyone else was scattered throughout the cabin of the plane. Given the number of people on board, it was hard to believe that everyone managed to respect each other's privacy, but somehow, Julian had found himself alone, at least in his thoughts if not for Wagner sitting beside him twiddling his thumbs or Juli, who lay down with her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling as though in some trance.

Julian had been seconds away from his son - a son who had no idea who his father was. The knowledge that he'd just missed Dorian by a hair tore at Julian's heart to the point where it physically hurt to think about it. Yet it was all he could think about; what he would have said to Dorian, how he would've approached him. Julian formed conversations in his head about how he would like his first meeting with his son to turn out. And at the end of every time the conversation ended, he remembered that it was merely what could've happened. Not what actually did. Then the painful cycle would continue again.

A soft shuffling coming from the aisle snapped Julian back to reality.

"Father."

The title shook Julian for a second, for he thought he'd seen Dorian standing in the aisle and he'd nearly jumped from his seat. But he blinked and when his vision refocused, saw that it was only Kenny.

"We've been over this," Julian said, "I'm not really a priest ..."

"There's nobody else," Kenny replied softly, his gaze cast downward.

"I ..." Julian began to argue but decided against it. "It's good to see you're doing well after what happened."

"After that fucktard Issei knocked me out? Yeah, I'd say."

Julian meant what had happened to Cranky, and more importantly, how Kenny had reacted by nearly killing Genta if Katarina had left him to his own devices. But he chose to let Kenny do the talking and agree with everything he said. "Yes, after you were knocked out." Julian nodded subtlely at Juli and Wagner, both whom got the hint and left, giving Kenny and Julian a little more privacy.

"I hate them both," Kenny said suddenly.

"What?" Julian said, shocked, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "Why?"

"No, Katarina and Issei, I meant."

"... Oh, alright then." Julian calmed down a little.

Kenny's brows furrowed in confusion. "You're not going to tell me that hating is a sin?"

"Of course its a sin," Julian replied. "Hating is the worst thing anyone can do to their own soul. To continue hating, not only is it the most painful thing to put yourself through, but it leads to disastrous results. But it's never easy to stop. I've experienced it myself. I'm going through it right now. The only thing we can use to fight hate is forgiveness. And forgiving may be alot harder than hating, but it allows us to live in peace at the end."

"I knew you'd say that."

"Then why did you want to talk to me?"

"Cause I hoped you'd say something else."

"Katarina and Issei have wronged you, and I understand that. But if you think about things from their situation, were they anymore victims than you were? They didn't know what they were doing. They also did what they knew - and that was how to survive."

"Yeah but by trying to kill me? By ressurecting Vega and the Shadow Technology, the very substance that made my childhood a living hell?"

"The twins followed orders in the hopes of reuniting with their family one day. Hope was what kept them going or they would've probably killed themselves long ago. Sure the hope that they'd be reuinited with their parents was false - they'd already died. But they didn't know that you existed, let alone the fact you were alive."

"Doesn't mean I should be cool with them trying to kill me.

"But when Shadowlaw had ordered them to kill you, their own flesh and blood, they turned them against their employers. They were merely following orders until they realized who you were. Your mere presence turned them from desperate survivors, Shadowlaw puppets, into guardians risking their very lives for you. If Shadowlaw finds them, they will be killed. And neither of them care, because they've been reunited with you. I hope you understand that, Kenny."

"But ... but they ..."

"You don't WANT to like them." Wagner interrupted, joining the two of them with a mug of hot coffee in one hand. He reclaimed his spot on the leather couch beside Julian. Kenny shifted uncomfortably in his spot across from them. Julian decided that the conversation was wandering more into Wagner's department when he decided to clam up and let him do the rest of the talking.

"How did you ..."

"Because you feel like you should. Like everything is telling you that they don't deserve the hatred you feel towards them." Wagner paused to let Kenny collect his thoughts.

"It's too much smothering," Kenny admitted finally. "I've gone from completely independant to having people throw themselves in front of Psycho Drive fireballs for me."

"You've got a rich past, and I see why it'd be so overwhelming to remember everything at once."

"It's hard enough knowing Cranky's watching my every move and it took him almost getting killed for my wellbeing for me to accept that. And right after some red-headed Irish American comes up to me and claims to be my brother, these two Shadowlaw twins who tried to kill me are saying 'No, no, WE are your true siblings.'" It's like some twisted soap opera. If this were some stupid novel, I'd never be caught dead reading it."

"It's a no-brainer, this problem is," Wagner said, setting his mug down on the coffee table. The comment earned him a harsh look from Julian but Wagner ignored it. "Cranky's been there for you more than Aaron and Katarina have. You grew up together Dr. Feng and Shao Mei died at the hands of Shadowlaw. They were the only family Cranky had which means you were the only family left after the house fire. The twins were never a part of all the street politics you and Cranky were a part of."

"Yeah, you're right," Kenny agreed. "So that doesn't mean I have to ..."

"...exclude them from your future," Wagner interrupted, taking the conversation in a completely different direction than where Kenny was headed. "The blood relation is a start. But it's only a start. Your relationship with the twins will have to be worked on."

"But I don't want to."

"Are you saying that because you hate them, or because you've suffered an overload of information in the past few weeks?"

"...I dunno."

Wagner rose from his seat and patted Kenny on the head. "And you won't until all that information settles. Let that happen first, however long it takes." Wagner grabbed his cup off the table and walked away towards the cockpit.


	42. Chapter 35: Showdown

**Author's Notes: **_This story is taking abit longer to finish than I thought. So I'm gonna clam up and not say how many chapters left because I don't even know. We've reached the final showdown, that's for sure and there's not much left to write once this is over and done with, but still so much I want to say. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and keep the feedback coming, review or email doesn't matter. _

**XXXXX**

**Ryu's Hotel Suite**

**Bangkok, Thailand**

The 28 inch TV screen shut of with a resounding click, the pixelated reporter vanishing simply with a brilliant flash of light, only to be replaced by darkness. Chun Li threw the remote onto the bed angrily, frustrated at the helplessness of her situation while Guile stood a few feet away leaning agains the wall, arms folded across his chest. She turned to face him.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Guile asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"You're just gonna stand there?"

Guile said nothing, waiting for her to continue. Chun Li frowned and placed her hand on her hips. Working together for so many years with Guile, she hoped he would understand her by now and his feigned ignorance riled her up even more. Deciding she had enough of this childish behaviour, she headed over to the coat rack, bandaged and all, and nabbed her coat. This got Guile's attention.

"What do you think you're doing?" Guile asked.

"You know where I'm going," Chun Li snapped. "Continue standing there if you want. I'm not leaving Ryu to fend for himself."

"Now hold on a minute," Guile said, starting after her. "Our friends are fine. Ryu's the only one in possible danger but he's a seasoned warrior. Bison doesn't stand a chance."

"If Bison didn't stand a chance against a lone warrior like Ryu," Chun Li said, cutting him off, "then he would've been recruited into Interpol's ranks a long time ago."

"The tournament officials won't allow it," Guile pressed, trying a different tactic.

"You mean the tournament officials lying in stretchers?"

"Chun Li ..."

"This is more than just a stupid tournament now," she continued. "Lives are at stake here; Ryu's in particular."

Guile gave up with a loud, audible sigh and said no more, deciding to follow Chun Li out the door, stumbling along behind her as they made their exit from the hotel suite.

**XXXXX**

**Beyond the Tournament Arena**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

Genta's eyes opened first, and it had taken long painful while. He let his pupils adjust to the fading light of the late afternoon. Sweat coated his face, seeped into the cuts sustained in the most recent battle. His mind burned with rage and hatred upon remember what had happened. He'd been thrown about like a rag doll, beaten into a bruised and bloody pulp by a boy no older than him and far less experienced in battle.

"Kenneth Feng," Genta hissed softly through clenched teeth. He was a mere Shadowlaw experiment whose sole purpose was to house the Shadow Technology before it could be extracted for proper use. Now that it had been tested on Lieutenant Charlie Nash and Agent Chun Li, extracted from Kenneth's body and responsible for reviving Master Bison, and enhancing the abilities of Bison's bodyguard panel, they no longer had a use for Kenneth. He was useless. But yet, Genta had been defeated by that ... that lab rat! What did that say about Genta's abilities? Was he going to let those years of training and more importantly, his reputation as one of Shadowlaw's prodigies leave on that jet plane Kenneth had boarded?

The realization of what Kenneth's victory against him meant caused Genta to let go of whatever grudge he held against his former Shadowlaw master, now nothing but a traitor to Shadowlaw. Admiral Issei's destruction was no longer a priority for the young Shadowlaw soldier. Now the only thought that drove Genta was seeing Kenneth Feng's lifeless body at his feet. Genta clenched his jaw and forced himself to sit up. His entire body protested with throbbing aches from his bones and sharp pains from his surface wounds.

"Oi, ge'up," someone said to him. The speaker took Genta by the wrist and hoisted the youth to his feet. His body continued hurting but Genta bit down and forced himself to focus, feeling a slight head rush.

"Balrog," Genta said, recognizing the figure standing before him. He noticed Muay Thai champion Sagat and Vega, Genta's superior figure flanking the ex boxing champion. The entire bodyguard panel was standing before Genta without any men to back them up. "What's going on here?"

"I didn't think you'd be taken out so quickly," Vega said with a hint of disappointment coming from behind his protective mask. "I thought you'd keep the warriors busy until I got back."

"Why did you even have to go in the first place?" Genta asked.

"Dorian Marquez had to be taken to safety."

"You're a fool for pitting a pup like this against the world warriors, Vega," Sagat scoffed.

"He should'a died," Balrog added, "if he faced Issei, Katarina, Delta Red and the World Warriors alone, like you reported."

"Clearly, they spared him. But for what purpose, I wonder ..."

"I wasn't spared!" Genta cried angrily.

"Getting quite defensive," Vega noted.

"They didn't touch me! None of them did! Except that Shadow Technology lab brat ..."

"Defeated by Kenneth Feng?" Sagat asked. "If you want to make it as a Shadowlaw Elite, you should know better than to admit to something as pathetic as that. If Master Bison finds out, your termination will be a long and painful one. Perhaps I should spare you the torture and finish you off myself right here." Sagat cracked his knuckles and approached Genta slowly. The youth's eyes widened in fright and he took a step back, preparing to defend himself.

"You will do no such thing, Sagat," Vega warned. "Since Admiral Issei's betrayal, Genta Iwagaki is now my subordinate and a member of Shadowlaw's military."

"I am Master Bison's second in command," Sagat said. "Do not question me."

"And imagine his reaction when he finds out you've terminated his most promising soldier, meddling in one of Shadowlaw's divisions of which you have no influence. I wouldn't do it."

Sagat frowned, realizing the truth in Vega's words and stopped in his tracks. "Very well. The boy will only get himself killed in battle following your blind orders anyway."

"I'll be the judge, Sagat."

"There's a ba'tle goin' on at the tournament arena, boys," Balrog said, interrupted the two bickering bodyguards. "Mebbe we get a move on an' stop those street fight'ers from takin' out Master Bison, yeah?" Sagat, Vega and Genta nodded once in agreement and the foursome moved on towards an awaiting chopper just a few meters away.

**XXXXX**

**Tournament Arena**

**Pattaya, Thailand**

The Master's private jet touched down just outside the Buddhist Temple and opened its doors, spilling forth a barrage of warriors. Ken Masters led the way, dressed in his scarlet karate gi, blond hair whipping around his shoulders. He was followed by Juli, all three of the Feng siblings, Scott Wagner, Julian Marquez, and the five members of Delta Red. The eleven fighters stalled for a brief second, unable to comprehend the sight that lay before them. The temple monks and spectators alike lay on the ground unconcious ... or dead, it was impossible to tell from just a quick glimpse.

"What the hell," Kenny gasped, vocalizing surely what was going through everyone else's mind.

"Come on," Colonel Wolfman said sternly. "We have no time to waste here." The group left the bodies lying as they were, careful not to step on any limbs in case they really were alive, without any time to figure if they were or not. The grunts and explosions that sounded like a great battle was taking place gradually got louder as they approached the temple. And the closer they got, the more bodies of tournament spectators could be found. So many there were, they now piled on top of each other and covered most of the ground, leaving mere inches of dirt and grass uncovered beneath the fading sunlight.

"What has Shadowlaw done this time?" Juli wondered aloud, her voice shaky with overwhelming shock. "All these people ..."

"Hijacking, drug dealing, assassinations, fine," Kenny agreed, "but mass murder?"

"Fall back!" Ken warned, but he was too late for anyone to heed his words. An explosion rocked the very ground they stood on, throwing the warriors in every direction. Before they could even get back to their feet, the group found themselves peppered with bullets as they scrambled to find themselves some cover.

Colonel Wolfman dove behind a large piece of shattered concrete and found himself beside Luwanda.

"Shadowlaw soldiers, sir," she reported. "Who'd have thought they'd be guarding the arena?"

"Delta Red!" Wolfman bellowed above the explosions and smoke, "neutralize them. Give the warriors some headway!" The affirmative grunts from McCoy and Ginzu could be heard from midst of the thick smoke that engulfed the scene.

"Give me a gun," Katarina demanded, who Wolfman only just realized was feet from where he hid. She held out a grimy hand, the sleeves of her labcoat covered it dirt and torn at the cuffs. "Give me a gun, damn it! I can help you take these guys out!" Wolfman nodded and slipped Katarina his spare handgun, having nothing else to offer her.

"Back me up," he said. "Pick off the ones I miss."

As the smoke slowly cleared, the shapes of five thickly built Shadowlaw soldiers, all covered in protective gear, could be seen unleashing a firestorm among the warriors. While Delta Red and Katarina distracted them with guns blazing, Wolfman noticed the silhouettes of Ken Masters leading Julian, Wagner, Kenny and Juli deeper into the tournament grounds and wondered briefly if they knew where they were going.

"Shit!" Luwanda cursed, the loud clicks of her empty chamber deafening Wolfman. "I'm completely out. Reserves were probably destroyed back at the chopper crash."

"And they don't seem to be running out anytime soon," Wolfman added.

Before they could ponder their demise, however, a dark shape dropped down from the overhanging trees directly behind the five Shadowlaw soldiers. It wrapped its arms around the closest soldier and broke his neck with a deafening snap. The other four took their attention off Delta Red and began firing their automatic weapons, only to have the firearms kicked from their grasps before the trigger could be pulled. With the weapons gone, blades were pulled from the soldiers boots as the remaining four of them danced around the dark shape, taking rapid swipes with blades gleaming through the smoke. Katarina fired off two rounds, one hitting a soldier in teh shoulder, the second through his temple. And then, there were three. But before Wolfman could fire his remaining ammunition, the dark figure had successfully floored the remaining soldiers, ducking under a kick, performing a jumping roundhouse kick that knocked the rest to the ground. To make sure they stayed there, the figure produced a small pistol from his waistband and fired a round into their chests.

He stood there unmoving, perhaps to catch his breath. When Wolfman deemed it safe to do so, he signaled for the others to get out from under the protection the concrete chunks offered. Their mysterious savior noticed them. Wolfman and the rest of the Delta Red team instinctively raised their weapons, but lowered them again when the figure reached to his head and pulled off the fabric covering his facial features.

"Aaron!" they sighed collectively with relief.

"That was easy, taking out your own men," Wolfman joked.

Aaron scoffed. "They belonged to another regiment. I had nothing to do with teaching these jokers how to fight." He gave the closest body a nudge with his foot.

"KILL THEM!" a savage voice ordered, and yet another wave of soldiers came running, surrounding the entire group in a tight circle. There was nowhere for them to run. Nowhere to offer shelter from the gunfire that would surely be unleashed upon them in seconds.

**XXXXX**

Ken hadn't led his group of warriors very far when they heard the command to kill their comrades on sight. Where was it coming from? The voice sounded like it had come from all over at once, but yet as he shifted his gaze in all directions, he could spot nobody giving out the orders; only its results - scores and scores of Shadowlaw soldiers coming up the Delta Red members and the Feng twins. Ken stole a glance behind him to make sure Julian, Wagner, Juli and Kenny were still following, only to find that Kenny had turned around and began heading back towards the battle.

"Get back here!" Ken bellowed to the youth. "You're not doing any good getting yourself killed in that firefight!"

"It's not the firefight I'm jumping into, Uncle Ken!" Kenny called back. "Just get going, I'll meet you guys later!"

"KENNY!!" Ken screamed angrily, but Julian quieted him.

"This is my fault, after what I said to him on the plane," he said. "You guys carry on, I'll go watch Kenny's back."

"What in the world are you talking about?!" Ken cried, bewildered.

"Just go!" Julian said, without turning around to face him again.

Ken sighed. With only Juli and Wagner following him now, they made their way inside the temple and back outside into an outdoor courtyard. In the midst of a sea of more bodies, among the debris of a heavily dented brass bell, wood splinters, and surprisingly, Bison's unconcious body, Ryu's form could barely be made out, dashing around a much darker aura with near inhuman speed. The wielder of the dark aura needed no introduction to Ken. The feeling of life being sucked from the area, the misery, the death, it all struck a familiar chord with Ken, just laying his eyes upon it.

Ken prepared to jump into battle when he noticed a scuffle behind him. Something large and dark had tackled the young airman, taking him to the ground and began pounding his face into the pavement. With the element of surprise at the opponent's advantage, Wagner had let the first two punches land on his jaw and cheek, but blocked the third successfully. He retaliated with a headbutt that stunned the attacker and threw his body off him.

"Wagner!" Juli cried, rushing to his aid. "Let me help you."

"No, no, Juli," Wagner insisted. "I'm fine really. I've fought this guy before. Balrog ..."

The attacker charged again, preparing a powerful punch with a boxing-gloved hand. He thrust his fist forward at Juli who parried the blow, albeit with a little difficulty. The lithe former-Doll wasn't expecting so much force, and her body wasn't as used to battle as it had once been, and was momentarily stunned from the sheer energy of the fight. But then something clicked inside her, a part of Juli that she had tried for years to supress while she tried to reclaim her humanity. Whatever Shadowlaw had done to her when they kidnapped her at the young age of fourteen, they had changed her permanently. It was like all those years she desperately tried to tame her cold, inhuman side came back in full force, rebelling against her wishes.

Juli thrust her body forward as a counter attack against the opponent's move. "Sniping arrow!" She dug her foot into Balrog's thick chest, rotated her body and threw him skyward. "Cannon Spike!" She jumped up after the opponents body, and met him in midair. Left jab, right knee, right elbow, left heel, Juli made sure she had pummeled every inch of his body in a devastating midair combination that knocked mists of sweat and blood from him. One last overhead blow sent him crashing groundward but Juli wasn't done yet. She concentrated her weight on a single foot and speed down after the falling Balrog, cracking him in the ribs with her heel just before he could collide with the pavement. She knocked Balrog with so much force that he skidded across the ground like a rock on the surface of a pond.

"I think we've got this guy covered," Wagner said to Ken, shooting him a thumb-up. "Ryu needs your help."

**XXXXX**

Genta watched with glee as his men swarmed Delta Red, Katarina Feng, and her brother; his former Issei Sensei. His gaze was not fixed on the red berets of the British Special forces or of one of Shadowlaw's scientific geniuses, but on the dark suited speck that was his former master. Since discovering of Issei's betrayal, Genta had wanted nothing more than to see Issei - or Aaron as he seemed to go by now - pay for his crimes. But yet, since suffering bitter defeat at the hands of a certain Kenneth Feng, as fate would have it, Issei's biological brother, Issei's fall from grace meant nothing to him. Genta stood there, eyes fixated on Issei, watching him fight desperately to save the lives of his friends, and forced himself to feel the satisfaction for this moment he had anticipated. But he still felt empty. Perhaps the second wave of soldiers would do it.

"KILL THEM!" Genta cried, watching from the rooftops of the tournament arena as more soldiers stormed the unfortunate group of wannabe heroes, guns hoisted and ready for bloodshed.

"I'll fucking kill YOU!" someone cried from behind Genta, and he felt an arm wrap around his neck and another around this head, trapping him in a headlock. Genta was taken to the roof tiles, rolling around, trying to get his attacker off him. The duo rolled down the side of the roof and fell one storey to the ground below, luckily, on a patch of grass. Genta rolled to his feet to see Kenneth Feng standing before him, rage still burning in his features from their previous brawl.

Genta grinned. This was exactly what he wished for - another opportunity to face Kenneth in battle, another opportunity to save his face. "Like a lamb to the slaughter," he said.

"Shut up," Kenny said and threw a rock at Genta, sending it sailing straight for his face.

Genta brought up his arms protectively in front of his face, letting it collide with his forearm. Pain shot up and down his limb but he wouldn't let give Kenny the satisfaction of seeing the pathetic attack faze him. The rock hadn't even clattered uselessly to the ground by the time Genta had connected his first hit into Kenny's abdomen, driving the air out of his lungs. Kenny doubled over, clutching his abdomen and Genta brought an elbow down onto his back. Kenny crashed to the floor and immediately tried picking himself up, but Genta slammed his foot onto his upper back, keeping the youth pinned to the ground. Genta wasted no time to boast and quickly drew a handgun from his belt, aiming it straight for the back of Kenny's head.

But Genta didn't get the chance to pull the trigger, for Kenny had reached out and seized his the ankle of his stabilizing foot, digging his fingers into Genta's Achille's heel. Pain shot up through his leg and the Shadowlaw prodigy collapsed to the ground like a pile of bricks. Kenny caught his handgun as he got back to his feet, while letting the rest of Genta bond with the grass. Kenny pulled the trigger, firing two, three, four, bullets into Genta's chest.

"Kenny, no!"

Julian ran up to the youth, devastated at what he had done, not to Genta, but to his own innocence. "This is ... this can't ..."

"I'm sorry, Fath ... Julian," Kenny said. "I couldn't just let him crawl away. He's too dangerous to let live."

They both watched Genta dying on the ground, his body going into occassional spasms in a pool of his own blood.

Julian, too stunned to form proper sentences, tried to speak. "You know how to use ..." But he only point wordlessly at the gun, still gripped tightly in Kenny's hand.

"Every closet has it's skeletons," Kenny replied, his tone tinted with shame.

"You haven't added another one yet ..."

Julian hadn't spoken those words. They looked to the ground where Genta lay, watching with horror as invisible hands propped his body upright, not unlike some kind of vampire. Genta opened his eyes not to reveal dark brown eyes, but neon green irises emitting a sinister aura that made the hair on the back of Kenny and Julian's necks stand. Genta spoke.

"It wasn't Cranky that saved you from the fire that killed your parents, Kenny. Nor was it your skill as a fighter that massacred the Shadowlaw soldiers who started it. It wasn't it sheer luck that saved you when Ryu punched a whole in your chest nine years ago. It was the Shadow Technology. It has been taken from you, enhanced by your own sister and united ... with me."

Julian moved after Genta before Kenny could, but was stopped in his tracks by a familiar, sadistic giggle coming from behind him. Julian and Kenny turned around to face a tall, slender figure whom Kenny vaguely recognized.

"Vega," Julian growled.

"Leave the children be," Vega sang in a melodic voice, "and let the grown men show them how the fighting is done." He raised a clawed arm, the evening light highlighting its metallic surface. "That is, if I don't skewer you first."

"Where's Dorian?!" Julian roared, closing the distance between him and Vega with fists clenched.

Genta leapt towards Julian with the intent of intercepting him before he could lay a finger on Vega. But Kenny stepped into his path and parried the blow meant for Julian effortlessly.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Kenny growled.

Genta grinned, elated. "If you think you stand a chance against me with nothing but your two fists ..."

"You can finish that sentence when I'm dancing on your fugly face."


	43. Chapter 36: Pain Abundant

None of the warriors fighting in the Pattaya Buddhist temple that day had lived during the last world war. But had they, this would have been exactly what they experienced. The noise of gunfire, explosions, screams of pain, suffering and death combined into an enormous wave of deafening sound. Sound so loud, it was silent. Everything moved excruciatingly slow. Particles of dirt could be seen moving up at a snail-like pace from the ground, forming a mini mushroom cloud before collapsing on itself back onto the ground as thrown grenades exploded amidst the automatic gun fire.

It was amidst this crawling, silent scene that the second Street Fighter tournaments ended for each warrior involved; with a whimper, a bang, an atomic boom, or all three.

**XXXXX**

_Katarina and Aaron Issei Feng_

A formidable force of automatic rifles and handguns sprayed hails of bullets at the members of Delta Red, taking cover behind bits of debris, trapped there by hot lead flying every which way. Luwanda, McCoy, Wolfman, and Ginzu each tried numerous times to find a window of opportunity to fire back, each attempt ending with a frustrated grunt as they reassumed their protective positions behind the debris.

The former Shadowlaw prodigies, twins Katarina and Aaron Feng weren't much luckier. They were sitting ducks. While a team of soldiers provided cover fire, a small team of Shadowlaw forces approached the ragtag group silently, most likely to take them out with melee attacks. Aaron had expected this, and a quick glance past the debris confirmed his predictions.

"How's the ammo supply looking?" he asked Wolfman, who responded by ejecting an empty magazine from his handgun. Bullet casings blanketed the ground where they had taken shelter. Wolfman motioned to the casings without saying a word.

"There must be more," Katarina protested, having been watching in on their conversation. "You guys are a branch of the freaking military for goodness sakes."

"We brought as much ammunition as four people could carry," Luwanda hissed angrily. "We didn't expect you two to be joining in on the firefight, and we didn't think we'd face facing multiple Shadowlaw death squads out to get our blood, honey."

"We work with the element of surprise," Ginzu added between looking over the rubble that separated them from their approaching enemies. "Covert ops missions. Sneak here, shoot a guy there. This? This is fucking war!"

"They're coming!" Aaron reminded, putting an end to the quick squabble. "Get your melee weapons out. They'll be coming at us with knives."

And Aaron was right, to a certain extent. He spotted a flash of silver. Heard the rush of air being sliced right through. Something sharp and spinning … headed right for Katarina.

"Issei!" Wolfman cried.

"Aaron!" Katarina screamed in a shrill, terrified voice. The thrown knives weren't the only things piercing the air that day. An explosion sounded somewhere nearby but Katarina paid it no attention. Had her brother's head in her lap, stroked his black, sweaty, matted hair gently. She could see grease on his skin, the dried blood and dirt caking his pores and stubble … and the knife handle sticking out of his chest.

A voice inside her asked about the soldiers. If they were still coming to kill them. But her heart replied quickly. It didn't matter even if they were. If her brother, the only family she had left, died here today, she would die with him. Katarina bent down and pressed her forehead against Aaron's as she cried.

With his remaining strength, Aaron took her hand into his and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Ke … Kenn .. ," he whispered into her ear before closing his eyes, slipping from consciousness and from life.

Katarina was in the first split second of mourning her brother when someone ruthlessly caught her in a headlock from behind. She felt the soldier's clothed forearm press against her delicate throat, attempting to strangle the breath from her. A sudden rush of anger flooded Katarina just then. They just took her brother not even ten seconds ago and now they wanted to take her too.

"Like hell you will," she hissed, grabbing onto the soldier's forearm and elbow with both hands. She dug her nails through the fabric and into the soldier's skin and threw him over her shoulder. Katarina rose while the soldier fell. Blocking the despair that threatened to engulf her, she let the warrior in her – trained in the very same Shadowlaw Assassination Arts programmed into the Dolls – take over. She gripped the knife handle, still sticking out of her brother's chest, and tore it out. Stepping over to the Shadowlaw goon who was struggling to his feet, she plunged the blade into him, making sure she hit the exact spot that had taken her brother, an ex-Shadowlaw admiral, in an instant.

It was within those few seconds that Shadowlaw had finished what they started with her when she was a little girl – taking the lives of everyone that meant anything to her – Dr. Feng and his wife, and now her brother Aaron. It was also in those same seconds that she had gotten her first taste of revenge.

**XXXXX**

_Juli and Scott Kurt Wagner_

Wagner had managed to suppress a cry of despair this time as he witnessed Juli's small framed body eat a mighty gigaton punch from one of Balrog's gloved fists. This wasn't the first time he'd her absorb one of his blows in this battle. He was continually surprised with every hit that she absorbed that she had managed to get up and fight as if nothing had happened. Juli may have left the life of a Doll behind her – she might not have even remembered it – but her body sure did. She could still take a beating.

Juli's body hadn't even reached the apex of its curve as she sailed through the air when Balrog turned around to throw a second punch, this time aimed at Wagner. He managed to parry the attack, feeling the power of the punch vibrate through his arm bones. Balrog's mistake was putting his full weight behind the punch. Wagner used Balrog's momentum to his advantage, pulling the champion boxer into a savage knee into his solar plexus. What should have knocked the wind from his body and cause radiating pain throughout Balrog's body seemed to power him up instead. He boxer seemed to thrive of pain. Was that how the Shadow Technology embedded in his body was doing? What kind of sadistic modifications did Katarina make to her father's work?

Wagner tried to finish the move he started, but it was clear Balrog wasn't affected negatively in the least by his knee strike. As Wagner tried to flip the boxer over, Balrog resisted and threw Wagner to the ground instead, stepping on his chest to keep him floored.

"Quit tryin', boy," Balrog said with a toothless grin. "Shadowlaw's already won dis one. You ain't getting nowhere fast." Wagner raised his head with effort, spittle shooting from between his teeth but this only made Balrog apply more pressure to his chest. "Git up and I'm step a fuckin' hole through yer chest, bitch ."

Wagner thought he was going to blackout from the pressure being applied to his chest when it suddenly alleviated with a deep throated growl. As his vision cleared, he felt himself being pulled to his feet. It wasn't until he was standing when he realized it was Juli who had come to his rescue.

"Thanks," he wheezed.

"He's coming back for more," Juli said, before pushing Wagner out of the way. Balrog rushed them with another gigaton punch, giving her the perfect opportunity to counter the attack. Before her face could eat Balrog's fist for the fourth time that fight, Juli crouched, and waited that split second when his upper body was directly over her.

"Reverse Shaft Breaker!" she cried, using her wrists, elbows and shoulders to propel her body vertically upwards. Juli twisted her legs around each other and twirled her body, catching Balrog in the jaw with her heels. Both their bodies sailed skyward and as she twirled up, Juli thought she caught a glimpse of Wagner staring at her, slack-jawed in awe. She took the opportunity to shoot Wagner a quick wink, but that proved to be a fatal mistake.

Balrog had partially recovered in mid-air and made a sloppy grab at Juli. She couldn't break the grip of both his arms in time and they both landed on the dirt and rubble – Balrog landing on his belly, and Juli on her upper back. From a few feet away, Wagner urged Juli to get up, but she made no movement after her landing. She was out cold. And Balrog …

Balrog was getting up, slowly and shakily, but he was making progress. But if Juli was going to stay unconscious, Wagner was going to make sure Balrog did the same. He ran for the boxer and delivered a devastating punt to his jaw, the same spot where Juli had caught him with her reverse-shaft-breaker. That seemed to finish what she's started. Wagner stood still for a few moments, waiting to see if Balrog stirred. When he didn't, Wagner took the few steps over to where Juli lay. He was a counselor, not a medic, so he did what he knew how to do. Propped her up to a sitting position, held her close to his body and prayed to whoever was listening.

Together, Juli and Wagner alone had taken out one third of Bison's bodyguard panel. Judging from the ever so subtle smile on her lips, he knew that she knew it too. The rest was up to the others.

**XXXXX**

_Vega De La Cerna and Julian Marquez_

Try and Julian might to get at the giggling matador, he was just too quick to even go near. Vega continued to mock Julian, staying within an inch of his reach as Julian rushed and took swipes at him. To say that Julian hated Vega was an understatement. Loathe wasn't even a strong enough word. Vega had Julian's son, Dorian, hidden away somewhere and the way Vega danced about, toying with Julian like a cat would with a mouse, humming the melody to "I'll never tell" with a sickeningly sweet voice, drove him into an incomprehensible rage. And the lip gloss was the cherry on the cake.

"Give me back my son," Julian whispered behind every punch. How he longed to feel Vega's bones being crushed to powder beneath his knuckles. But the matador kept eluding him.

"You've been in hiding too long, Marquez," Vega said. "You're losing your touch. What has the church done to you? What has God done to you?"

Julian stopped fighting now, deciding to employ a new tactic. He was going to fight defensive, like Vega was. He was going to have to play the waiting game and out-wait Vega, prompting him to make a move that he could effectively counter. Prompt him to just get within reach …

"The same thing He'll do to you," Julian replied, "when I send you to Him."

Vega reverted to a non-fighting stance, folding his arms. The head of his snake tattoo could be seen on Vega's chest, glaring at Julian with unmoving eyes. "Then come show me," Vega said, spreading his arms, as if the snake would leap from his body at Julian and take him out with one venomous bite.

Julian forced himself not to be tempted by Vega's invitation. He was inviting Julian to attack, and Julian knew full well there was punishment in the form of a counterattack just waiting for him if he acted on the temptation. He wasn't going to take any chances with that claw still attached to Vega's arm.

"Very well then, _Father_," Vega used the title mockingly. "Looks like you need a little incentive."

It worked almost too well. The moment Julian hesitated to attack, Vega decided to go on the offensive. Perhaps Julian was more visibly fatigued than he thought? Whatever, he wasn't going to question his luck, nor did he have the time to. As predicted, Vega struck with his clawed arm. Julian dodged to the side, took Vega's wrist in one hand and brought his opposite elbow down hard in the crook of Vega's arm.

The matador let out a high-pitched cry of pain but Julian didn't release his grip. He kicked out Vega's supporting leg from under him and took him down to the ground. To keep him pinned there, Julian rolled onto Vega's shoulder, still holding onto his arm, bashing it down onto a piece of adjacent rubble in a desperate attempt to detach the claw.

After a few well placed strikes, Julian finally heard the clang of the detaching claw as it separated from Vega's wrist guards and onto the ground. The matador was crying out in pain. Some of the bones in his hands were probably fractured … and broken, Julian hoped. Whatever injuries Vega might have sustained, as soon as he'd risen from the ground, he didn't act like anything was fazing him at all. He should have been in a world of pain by now! What the hell …

Mentally though, it looked as if Vega had lost all the composure he held himself with earlier. Crazed eyes stared straight at Julian through the tiny slits in the featureless mask covering his face. Vega's body was hunched over, fingers on his good hand curled into claws. His shoulders rose and fell from the deep breaths he took.

"You …. DARE!!" Vega screeched, not unlike a harpy.

Julian didn't expect Vega to lunge so quickly, just a blur of flesh in the air, before Vega was on top of him, hands wrapped around Julian's throat. He quickly felt the air and life being squeezed out of him and Vega's thumbs pressed against his

Adam's apple. Julian grasped his assailants wrists and tried to pry them off his throat. He succeeded in loosening Vega's grasp but that was all.

And then he thought about his son, Dorian. If Julian died now, there was no way he'd ever find Dorian. He wanted to be there for the boy, lead him and guide him in life. Julian didn't know how he would do that but at that moment, he would've given anything for that opportunity. And he wasn't going to do that dying, literally, at Vega's hands – never mind the fact that it was Vega who was about to kill him. That was why Julian did what he did next.

He seized Vega by his injured hand, and pried it off his throat. Brining one of his fingers to his mouth, Julian clamped his teeth down on one of Vega's well manicured fingernails and ripped it off with one hard jerk. He felt the warm spray of blood on his face, the metallic taste of it in his mouth, heard Vega's cries of agony and his weight lift off Julian's chest.

Vega cradled his injured hand, continually howling and crying in pain. He was still conscious, though in agonizing pain. He wasn't a threat anymore … for now, at least.

Julian jumped to his feet just as he heard a loud gunshot go off. Judging from the intensity, he could tell it was from somewhere close by. Swiping Vega's blade off the ground, he continued searching for the shooter and saw Genta with his handgun aimed at Kenny, who was still standing.

For some reason, Genta turned his back on Kenny without realizing he was about to come face to face with Julian. Before Genta could even register Julian's presence, he took the blade, plunged it into Genta's abdomen, digging in as far as his internal organs would allow. Genta's mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out – just a hoarse whisper of pain and surprise. Deciding that the blade was lodged firmly in Genta's body, he released the youth, and let him fall lifelessly at his feet.

He kept his eyes on Genta, who had the same expression on his face, like a fish out of water with Vega's claw embedded in him. The Shadowlaw soldier didn't wasn't moving.

"See if the Shadow Technology heals that," Julian said. "Right, Kenny?"

No response.

"… Kenny?"

**XXXXX**

_Genta Iwagaki and Kenneth Feng_

"What are you waiting for, Kenny?" Genta smirked, his fists raised, fingers taunting Kenny, daring him to come closer and end the fight. "Afraid of a little pain?"

"Come here and say that, and I'll show you how afraid I am of dealing it," Kenny retorted. "I know how you bitches work." He shot a quick glance over at Julian. "Playing on the pain you cause people. Julian can't even land a punch on Vega. Driven by all the despair and anger …"

Genta's fists lowered, but only a little. "This isn't the time to get all philosophical on me. Shut up and fight."

"You seem so intent on making my life a living hell," Kenny continued. "But I realize it's not me. It's you. It's Shadowlaw. It's just what you do to people."

"That's where you're wrong, Kenny," Genta grinned slightly. "It's not just Shadowlaw. It's the power you possessed. One of our greatest technological achievements – hidden inside a sad little boy. That was your father's mistake – hiding his work inside you. Your father was the source of all your pain. We just needed to get back what he stole from us."

"He created the Shadow Technology."

"For us! Through our funds!"

"You killed him."

"And?" Kenny's expression turned into one of rage, but only for a second. He retained his calm demeanor after that, which seemed to irritate Genta. But the Shadowlaw youth continued to push his rival for a response. "Well, maybe we should've beat him within inches of his life instead. You were a useless street kid after all, hiding behind Crankurt the whole time."

"Sorry, I guess I should've been hiding behind the Noguchi Confederates instead?" Now it was Genta's turn to struggle to maintain his composure.

"You know that time you and Crankurt were attacked at the park? One of a series of 'hate crimes' committed against non-Japanese? That was us, Kenny. That was the Noguchi Confederates. We put that fiery haired foreigner in the hospital. Now had I known at the time that you were a chink –"

Genta ate Kenny's fist. Literally. Kenny's knuckles knocked out at least three teeth and loosened one from Genta's mouth. Genta stumbled, holding his mouth, blood dripping from between his fingers.

"It was you bastards who hurt Cranky!" Kenny cried. He delivered a spinning hook kick to Genta's head, nearly forcing the Shadowlaw agent to lose his balance. "It was you bastards who hurt Cammy and made her lose her baby!" A jumping axe kick floored Genta. "… who stole Juli's humanity, who took Father Marquez's son, who orphaned Uncle Wagner …" Kenny jumped onto Genta and began raining punches down on the boy's head. Genta could do nothing but cover his head for protection while Kenny pumped his fists into the fallen soldier's head. " … and ME!!"

When Kenny felt he was running out of energy, he released Genta and took a few quick steps back, just out of striking distance. "And you're proud of every fucking thing you've done!"

**BANG!!**

Kenny felt a piercing pain in his right side, and instinctively gripped his wound, feeling the warm liquid sensation of blood oozing through the fingers of his left hand. A moment of silence followed as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. He looked at Genta, holding a pistol in his right hand, aimed straight at the boy.

"No Shadow Technology to heal you anymore, huh?" Genta taunted.

Kenny dropped to his knees, suddenly feeling dizzy from the shock and rapid blood loss. Genta was right. There was no Shadow Technology in him to heal his wounded body. He'd used the last of whatever residual power remaining in him warding off Akuma, keeping the demon from Ryu. Wave after wave of excruciating pain paralyzed Kenny as he fell sideways onto the ground. 

As Kenny fought to remain conscious, he found himself smiling at the very last thing he could remember seeing that day … Vega's claw thrusting itself through Genta's abdomen, ripping straight out through his back.


	44. Interlude: Moving On

It was a strange, hollow place completely devoid of any life. Cranky thought he heard something move close to him; a subtle movement, yet in this silence, amplified to the point where it stirred him from his sleep. He opened his eyes slowly, lids resisting with fatigue, only to discover it was the movement of his fingers inches from his face. The ground was cold, hard, and artificial. He was lying on it, belly down, feeling the ground absorb the heat from his body. Chills went down his spine. He forced himself to get to his feet slowly and painfully. His entire body ached. And as he stood now, fully erect, suddenly felt faint. It was a head rush. He closed his eyes, trying to maintain his balance until the feeling subsided, and then took a good look at his surroundings.

And he saw nothing.

The darkness stretched as far as the eye could see. But somehow, he could still see his hand clearly when he held it in front of him.  

"Hello?" he called out, and nearly jumped at the volume his voice echoed back at him from unseen walls. Where the hell was he? He took a step forward on the invisible black ground, no darker or lighter than the farthest he could see. It was solid and held his weight. He stomped the ground with his heel to find it was solid as concrete.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cranky thought he saw a shape. It was dark, but not as pitch black as the rest of his surroundings. He stared closely at what he thought he saw, and it gradually became clear to him. A young man standing with his back turned to Cranky with a lean frame and thin shoulders.

"Kenny?"

"You're here too?" was the reply. Kenny turned around to face him with an elated smile. But quickly as he turned, the smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. Kenny started shaking his head. "No, that can't be a good thing."

"What are you talking about?" Cranky demanded.

"Isn't this place great?" Kenny continued. He took a breath though his nose, taking in the dead air. "The breeze is fresh, the sky is cloudless, the fields stretch farther than the eye can see. I could spend an eternity here and not even notice a second has gone by. But you … you can't stay here. Cammy needs you."

Cranky took Kenny by the shoulders. "Are you crazy? There's nothing here! We're in the middle of nowhere! There's nothing here but you, me, and this ... this darkness!"

Kenny gave Cranky a look that made him question who the crazy person was between the two of them. He kicked at the ground and his foot rebounded off something invisible. "You can't see that?"

"No!" Cranky cried in frustration. "I can't see that! And you're sounding like a lunatic right now and in a place like this, it's starting to freak the hell outta me."

"Whoa." Kenny backed away from him slowly, as if Cranky were about to spontaneously combust.

"Come on," Cranky said, "let's get out of here."

Just as he did, Kenny turned his back to him again. "You can't see those stairs?" he asked. "Dude, they're made of … I don't even know what. They're white, and have these golden railings with statues of angels carved right into them. I wonder what's up there."

Suddenly, Cranky got the feeling that if Kenny ascended those unseen stairs, he'd never see him again. It started to make complete sense. Cranky didn't belong here. He couldn't see anything around him. He had to get back to Cammy. But what Kenny described, the way he spoke, whatever he was seeing, it had a powerful impact on him. Kenny was meant to be here, which meant something must've happened to …

Cranky lunged after Kenny and grabbed onto his shirt. "No, you're not going."

"Relax, Crank, I just wanna see what's up there," Kenny said. "I'll be right back."

"No, Kenny, you WON'T!" Cranky shouted so violently, it startled the youth. He forced himself to calm down and try to explain himself. "Look – just … just don't go up there, Kenny, please. Just listen to me for once in your life. I've got a really bad feeling about this."

Kenny stared at Cranky suspiciously but didn't ascend the invisible staircase. Cranky could definitely tell it was there as Kenny's hand was resting on _something, _gripping it. "A…alright, Crank, just don't flip out. I won't go."

Suddenly, Cranky felt his grip on Kenny's shirt loosen as an unseen force pushed him from his brother. Cranky landed on the cement ground on his shoulder, bruising it. The pain was so real. Standing in front of him, obscuring Kenny, was the hateful sight of Genta, smiling smugly.

"Don't interfere," Genta sneered.

"Cranky? Are you okay?" Kenny asked. He approached Cranky as if not seeing Genta standing there in all his sickening pride – and to Cranky's shock, walked right _through _Genta and reached out a hand to help Cranky to his feet. He accepted Kenny's hand, expecting to feel flesh but was surprised when his hand passed through Kenny's as if there was nothing there.

Kenny pulled his arm back as if he'd just been burned. "What the fuck …"

"Let him go, Cranky," Genta said. "He wants to. There are people up there waiting for him."

"There are people on Earth who are there for him." Cranky retorted. "His life isn't over!"

"Cranky what the hell you talking about!" Kenny shouted in frustration. Clearly, Genta was invisible to him. "What's going on?"

Cranky struggled to get up but was pinned down by an invisible force while Genta stood over him, watching silently.

"Crank …," Kenny said, looking skyward where the top of the stairs would be, "someone's calling me. It's a lady." He paused. "She's beautiful. I – I think … I think I know her. She's smiling at you too. She wants to see you but she knows she can't."

"Kenny NO!" Cranky screamed. He diverted his attention to Genta and hatred spewed in the form of spittle on his lips at the Shadowlaw soldier. "I will fucking murder you, do you hear me? If you let Kenny go up those stairs I swear to God …"

Kenny's form suddenly vanished back into the darkness, leaving Cranky alone with Genta. He felt the force that pinned him down suddenly lift and Cranky was able to get back onto his feet and settle into a fighting stance.

"Where is he?" Cranky hissed like he could spit poison.

"That depends," Genta replied, "if he took the next step or not.

"Kenny's dead because of you, Crankurt. He led a life void of any guidance because of YOU. Every night when he stared up at the night sky and wondered if there was anyone out there who cared about what happened to him, did you know he contemplated suicide? And if he wasn't doing that, he was crying himself to sleep."

"I didn't …" Cranky tried defending himself, but he was cut off. An apparition appeared a few feet away in the darkness of a younger Kenny kneeling at a church pew, hands clasped so tightly in prayer, his knuckles were pure white. His eyes were squeezed shut. His cheeks shone with the trails of tears that had fallen moments before.

"_I wouldn't expect anything more of someone abandoned by his own parents_," an ambient voice said.

_"He says he gets his money from some guy named Mr. Masters. Probably some alternate identity he takes on while robbing banks, hahaha."_

The apparition disappeared and was replaced by a slightly older Kenny sitting out a couch with a faceless girl sitting on him beside a couch, her hand in his.

_"So Kenny, Sarah's told us a lot about you and you seem like a fascinating young man!" _a woman's voice noted. _"What do your parents do to raise someone so intriguing?"_

_"My dad's a construction site manager," _Kenny replied, _"and my mom is a biologist working with the __Raccoon__City__ Aquarium." _

The scene switched again.

_"My father's a bank manager and my mom owns her own flower shop." _

_"He's a computer analyst."_

_"A magazine editor."_

_"An IT technician."_

_"Thanks Mrs. Robertson, I'm very fortunate to have …"_

And the apparition mercifully switched again (the truth behind those lies were getting too much for Cranky to handle) to an eight year old version of Kenny sitting on a fire escape of an abandoned building, knees pulled into his chest. The stars shone overhead, numbering in the millions. It was a moonless night but yet the scene was bright as ever. It looked as if someone had taken a diamond and shattered it against the black backdrop of the sky. As serene a scene as it was, Kenny's shoulders jerked up and down as he sobbed into his own skinny arms.

"STOP!" Cranky bellowed.

The guilt was suffocating. But Genta was relentless. "And let's see what Kenny had to endure everything for."

WHAM!

It was no longer Kenny that Cranky saw before him, but a younger version of _himself_ huddled by a stained steel garbage can. Wide, frightened green eyes of a fourteen year old hid behind tangled bangs of red hair, gazing hungrily at a fifty thousand dollar yen note, placed on the lid of the garbage can by Ryu, who was now walking away from young Cranky.

_"I've tried my best to shield Kenny from all this shit_," young Cranky said._ "Whatever happens to him now, you're responsible."_

"You surrendered Kenny happily for five-thousand measly yen," Genta scoffed. "What does that even equate to? Fifty American dollars? Give or take two or three bucks."

"Shut up!" Cranky cried, covering his ears with his hands.

"And now, because of Cammy, he's back," Genta continued. "The fact that he's alive is a miracle in and of itself. But how do you make up for abandoning him? You control him! He can't do anything without wondering if you're gonna lose your cool and flip on him.

"Nevermind he's got a lot on his plate to deal with, least of which the way Shadowlaw victimized him! You've seen the shit Juli and Cammy have gone through. There's no way you'd even think of trying to monopolize their lives when they're just trying to get themselves on their own two feet. Do you think it'd be any different for Kenny?!"

It was no longer Genta standing there, berating Cranky. It was Issei now. Caught up in his guilt, Cranky barely registered the change.

The former Shadowlaw Admiral grabbed Cranky by the hair on the back of his head and hoisted him to his feet. "Answer me, SOLDIER!!"

Cranky stood weakly and looked straight at Issei with red eyes. "I'll let him go."

Issei spat angrily at Cranky's feet. "He's earned his independence. You have NO RIGHT to intrude on it."

"I'll let him go …" Cranky said weakly. "He can do whatever he wants. But that doesn't mean I don't care."

"Ok, dude, now you're starting to creep me out."

Issei wasn't standing there anymore. It was Kenny once again.

"If you have to go up those stairs, Kenny," Cranky said, "do it. If you feel it's time to pass on …"

"Damn it, Crank, snap out of it, PLEASE!" Kenny begged. "You've been saying shit that's made no sense for the last five minutes! Who were you talking to? What's going on here? Look Cranky, I know I probably cause you a lot of stress lately and I'm sorry, ok? Really, REALLY sorry! I'm a little piece of shit, I know, but I'm not gonna do anymore stupid shit, I swear! Please just don't go crazy because of me. Not now …"

Cranky shook his head as Kenny spewed apologies in a never ending stream. "No, Kenny, they were right."

"Who was right?"

"Issei and Genta."

Kenny jumped upon hearing Genta's name. He looked around on full alert. "Where is that fucker? I'll rip his heart out through his mouth!"

"Never mind them," Cranky said. "All I'm saying is I need to get back to Cammy. I want you to come with me. But I understand if you'd rather stay here. Climb those stairs."

Kenny smirked. "I only wanted to see what was up there, Crank. I was gonna come back. What, you think I want to die?"

"You don't? I mean, the way you described her, that was your mother standing up there. I know she wanted to see you, and that you wanted to see her. I wish I could've seen her too." 

"I saw her, Cranky. I talked to her. She just told me to watch out for you while you were busy bumbling around like a lunatic on the ground. By the way, you rolled in some dog shit and it's all over your back."

Cranky reached his arm around to feel back but could only feel the fabric of his shirt.

"So … you're not moving on?" he asked Kenny.

"That wasn't my intention, no. And I don't think it was my mom's intention either. Besides, the stairs are gone now. Everything's gone; the grass, the breeze, the sky … everything. All I see is black."

"That's what I've been seeing this whole time," Cranky said.

"Weird. Damn. You missed it."

"Well, little brother," Cranky said, clapping his hand on Kenny's shoulder, "let's get back and finish off this fight with Shadowlaw once and for all. Whaddaya say?"

"Yeah," Kenny replied with a renewed fire burning in his eys. "Let's."


	45. Chapter 37: The Final Battle Round One

The speed and strength by which Akuma engaged battle was nothing like Ryu had ever seen before. Ryu had barely managed to block the demon's first strike – a collarbone breaker – before he moved into a spinning hurricane kick, spinning twice as rapidly as Ryu himself had ever been able to execute it. And the power behind each kick pummeled him backward, despite Ryu's desperate attempt to keep himself balanced.

Akuma landed and moved fluidly into a dragon uppercut, rising high into the air. Ryu successfully blocked this too and saw a window of opportunity to counter the move, while Akuma descended from the apex of the move. But instead of descending as Ryu had predicted, Akuma remained airborne, floating there, pumping his fists downward, raining a series of purple fireballs down at him. Ryu was caught off guard and absorbed the projectile attacks with his face and torso. The projectiles hit him with such force that he was pushed into the ground on which he stood, smothered by the power of the Satsui no Hadou. The energy raining upon him from the projectiles that shot out from Akuma's palms crushed Ryu's skull into his shoulders, his shoulders to his spine, his spine through his legs, and out his heels that cracked the tiled arena floor that supported his full weight. Behind the protective shield of his forearms, Ryu's face was twisted into an anguished grimace, giving everything he had to withstand Akuma's onslaught without resorting to the Satsui no Hadou within his own body.

It had only lasted three seconds at the most but to Ryu, it had felt like an eternity. Akuma finally ran out of chi with which to batter Ryu and began his descent back towards the ground. This was when Ryu countered with a dragon uppercut of his own, catching Akuma in the jaw. Whether or not it was a lucky strike, Ryu wouldn't find out until later in the match when, or if, he managed to figure out Akuma's attack pattern.

Akuma was knocked off balance by the strike but recovered mid-air; something Ryu had seen no other fighter do. The dragon uppercut was a one hit blow that knocked any fighter off his feet. A fighter as small as Kenny when he was six years old to the gargantuan Russian wrestler Zangief had tasted its power, both of them floored by the single blow. But the inhuman Akuma absorbed the blow without so much as a grunt.

**XXXXX**

Chun Li spent the entire car ride staring nervously out the window, twiddling her thumbs around each other, or tapping her fingertips against her knees. She couldn't sit still. She was nervous for Ryu and Cammy, wondering what had happened to them since she lost her fight to Sagat. She knew Ryu saved her from certain death, she knew the scenario around the tournament grounds must've looked like a mass genocide had just taken place. She wasn't even sure she was in shape to help out with whatever trouble revealed itself. It just made her feel better that she was there to watch Shadowlaw's downfall … or the street fighters' attempts at taking them down once and for all. And whether her body was in the shape to fight or not, she wanted to play a part in it.

"Will you stop that?" Guile asked from the driver's seat, speeding down the highway, out of the city into the more remote countryside on the outskirts of Pattaya, where the Buddhist temple hosting the tournament rounds were located.

Chun Li stopped drumming her fingers on the dashboard, noticing only then that she was doing it. "I'm sorry," she said.

"It's just that," Guile began, "you're not making it easy for me to stay calm either."

"What do you think we'll find there?" Chun Li asked.

"I'd rather not think about it," Guile replied honestly. "We'll deal with it when we get there."

"The people fell like flies," she continued. "Just dropped to the ground. Like souls were being ripped from perfectly healthy bodies."

"Are they dead?"

Chun Li shook her head. "I don't think so. From what I gather, it's the result of conflicting energies. In this case, it's the Satsui no Hadou in ryu and the Psycho Power Bison is wielding. To incredibly negative energies clashing, both of them so powerful. Once the fight is over and it's gone, everything should be fine."

"Don't you think we'd end up unconscious on the ground too?" Guile was starting to question whether Chun Li was acting with her head or her heart. Working with the Interpol agent for so long, Guile was familiar with how stubborn she could be. Headstrong as she seemed, he knew it was really her heart doing all the decision making. Still, Chun Li was incredibly talented at convincing people that what she was doing was right. But she could never legitimize them to Guile. He knew her better than that.

She shrugged. "Whatever happens, it'll be worth it," Chun Li replied, before falling silent for the rest of the ride.

**XXXXX**

Wagner watched Delta Red take out what remained of Genta's squad with relative ease. He had no more energy left in him to fight. The battle with Balrog took all the strength and endurance his body could muster. And Juli was lying in his arms. With bullets flying everywhere, he couldn't leave her out in the open, unprotected, in case a stray bullet was to find its way over to them.

Wagner's thoughts came to a grinding halt. Was he willing to take a bullet for her?

He couldn't answer the question, as he noticed the Delta Red members walking towards him, bloody, bruised, dirty and weak, but very much alive. Luwanda had her hands on Katarina's shoulders, which were limp, her head hanging low. Where was Issei?

"She took out most of the soldiers," Colonel Wolfman said to Wagner, tipping his head at Katarina. "That woman can sure dodge anything you throw at her, even bullets."

"Katarina?" Wagner asked, shifting his gaze over to the weak, fragile looking ex-Shadowlaw scientist.

Luwanda shushed him. "Sit down, Katarina. That battle is over. There's nothing more you, or anyone else can do now. The rest is up to Ryu and Ken."

"What happened?" Wagner pressed Colonel Wolfman for answers.

"Issei was killed in battle. Katarina went berserk and killed a good ten to twenty members of Genta's force. She went around breaking necks, stabbing soldiers with their own knives, used bodies and live people alike as shields, taking them down one by one until enough attention was diverted to herself where we could step in and take out the remaining forces."

"Shit …"

"I'd expect nothing more from a Shadowlaw fighter."

"I thought she was a scientist."

"It's complicated … Anyway, how's Juli?"

"Unconscious, probably a concussion. She ate one too many of Balrog's punches. Did a good job fighting him off though. I've checked her over for broken bones, nothing that I can find. She seems to be ok otherwise – moved her fingers and lips a few times."

"Damn," Wolfman said, shaking his head. "This little thing can take more than one of Balrog's punches? No wonder she used to be a Shadowlaw doll."

"I think it's because she used to be one."

"HELP!" somebody cried from a distance.

Wagner and Wolfman's conversation ceased as their attention was diverted to the newcomer. Luwanda, McCoy and Ginzu stopped nursing their wounds to see who it was that approached.

"Julian!" Wagner cried, waving.

"He's carrying someone," Wolfman noted with urgency, getting to his feet.

"Help!" Julian shouted again, with a little less urgency this time, knowing he had their attention. "We need … we need …" he wheezed, out of breath.

"Kenny!" Wagner cried, now leaping to his feet too, running towards Julian.

"He's shot!" Wolfman said, reaching Julian first, noticing it looked like someone had dumped a bucket of blood all over him. Blood was smeared onto Julian's face and arms, crusting up his shirt. But Kenny looked like he'd been swimming in it.

"Julian, put Kenny down. You're bleeding all over the place," Wolfman advised, watching the blood trickle down his fingers of his hands supporting Kenny's weight.

Julian shook his head. "It's not me. I'm not cut. It's all Kenny's." Julian didn't think it necessary to mention that some of the blood was Genta's as well, after skewering him with Vega's claw.

"Holy shit," Wagner gasped, seeing so much blood. "We gotta stop this bleeding."

"I … I don't know first aid," Julian said, struggling to suppress the panic in his voice. "I tried putting pressure on the bullet wound to stop the bleeding, but I didn't want to push the bullet in some more. And it only made him gush more blood. Fuck, do something before he dies! I don't know what to … just don't know …"

"Fuck he's white as a sheet!" Wagner cried, panicking.

"Out of the way," Katarina said, shoving Wagner and Wolfman to clear a path for herself, the sudden appearance catching both men off guard.

"Kat, what are you …" Wolfman asked, but his question was answered before he could even finish it.

She extracted a small vile from her breast pocket, filled with a strange liquid with the consistency of water – except that it glowed a faint huge of purple. "Luwanda, I need one of your poison darts."

"Are you crazy?!" Luwanda cried. What are you going to inject him with?"

"I just need the needle!" Katarina pressed.

"THAT'S THE POISON PART!" Luwanda retorted.

"Just give it," Katarina insisted, her tone telling Luwanda that she was dead serious. The Delta Red member handed over one of her darts hesitantly. She, the other Delta Red members, Wagner and Julian watched in horror as Katarina inserted the needle into her mouth and sucked the poison off, spitting out whatever she could remove from the needle.

"Be careful!" Wolfman advised. "If you swallow any of that …"

Katarina nodded and spat out another wad mixture of saliva and poison. She licked her forearm to get any residual chemicals off her numbing tongue and wiped the needle clean with the tattered remains of her white skirt.

She unscrewed the needle from the dart and uncapped the small vile, screwing the needle onto it.

"You're making a mistake," Luwanda said. "Do you have any idea how potent the poison on those darts are? Ingesting even fraction of it could kill a rhinoceros! Sucking on it won't remove everything!"

Katarina didn't listen. Instead, she grabbed Kenny's hand and thrust the needle into a vein in the crook of his arm. A soft gasp from the group followed.

**XXXXX**

"Tatsumaki …" Ryu wound his body, "Sempuukyaku!" and released his energy in a flurry of kicks, spinning his body so fast, it sucked Akuma right in, battering the Shotokan demon from every direction. All Akuma could do was block and ride out the attack. As Ryu spun, he knew Akuma was defending the attack and Ryu forced himself to continue the assault as long as he possibly could, knowing Akuma was waiting to retaliate as soon as he recovered from the move.

And retaliate Akuma did – in the form of bone crunching, three hit dragon uppercut. Something stirred from within Ryu, an energy so powerful bursting to be unleashed upon the demon. And Ryu was tempted to use it but it was this very power that Akuma wanted him to turn to – the Satsui no Hadou.

"I sense it," Akuma said, wiping a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Don't hold back, Ryu."

The yearning for revenge for his master was strong and Akuma was a difficult opponent. He could understand how Master Gouken had fallen. Akuma harnessed a power that Gouken refused to; a power superior to what Gouken had taught them. But wielding that power came with certain risks. Ryu would have to sacrifice his very humanity to use it, and even then, he wasn't sure it'd be enough to defeat Akuma.

Then he caught the sudden attitude in his thinking. Defeat Akuma. But Ryu didn't fight for victory. He fought for the thrill of the fight, the discipline it took, and the valuable lessons he would walk away with from one. That was what he told Kenny back at the hospital after the youth had criticized his ways. Ryu had convinced him otherwise, but now, he was sure that this desperate need to destroy Akuma, driven by revenge or whatever else, was exactly what Kenny was getting at.

"Dude, NO!!"

Ryu felt strong arms lock around his body, pinning his own arms to his sides, and felt himself get taken down to the ground.

"Snap the hell out of it!"

Ryu blinked, noticing it was Ken Masters who brought him back to reality. Ryu hadn't even realized he'd zoned out for that brief moment. Ken looked legitimately afraid for him.

"Ken, what's wrong?" Ryu asked.

"The Satsui no Hadou," he replied, controlling his temper. "Don't you fucking act all innocent. You were going to use it!"

"You don't know that!" Ryu snapped back, roughly pushing Ken away as he staggered to his feet.

"Like your glowing eyes weren't a telltale sign!" Ken snapped back.

Neither fighter saw Akuma coming. The demon dashed at them both launching himself into variations of basic moves intended for two targets as opposed to one. Ken and Ryu outnumbered him but Akuma was dealing with the two of them well and showed no signs of slowing down.

**XXXXX**

An hour and forty-five minutes later, Guile and Chun Li arrived at the war zone – it looked enough like one. Guile wasn't ready for what he saw, but Chun Li seemed to have an idea of what to expect, watching the scenario unfold before her eyes on television just under two hours prior.

'What the hell …" Guile gasped. "All these people …"

"They're not dead," Chun Li said, sounding like she was convincing herself as she was saying it. "At least, not all of them are."

Guile scanned the surrounding area for any form of life. "Where's Ryu and the others?" A loud boom within the inner courtyard of the temple was his reply.

"Let's get going," Chun Li said.

"Wait," he interrupted. "We need to get an ambulance over here … or a whole armada of them."

"I'll leave that to you," Chun Li said, touching his elbow gently before running off towards the inner courtyard.

"No, come back here!" Guile ordered, but his words were useless. She continued running without looking back. "I … I can't speak Thai!!"

**XXXXX**

"It's okay," Katarina assured. "The residual poison won't harm Kenny. Not with this." She motioned to the vile connected to the needle, emptying its contents into Kenny's body.

"What is it?" Wolfman asked.

She gave him an incredulous look. "It's the Shadow Nanotechnology."

"That purple shit?" Wagner cried. "I thought it was … a computer chip or something."

"It's version two," Katarina explained. "It's the same Shadow Technology that Kenny had, only ten times more powerful and in nanotech format. The liquid is just saline. The Shadow Nanotechnology is floating around inside."

"You're creating a monster!!" Luwanda screamed.

"I just lost one brother!" Katarina snapped. "And I'm NOT going to lose another! I've heard it straight from Sagat's mouth. It was the original model of the Shadow Technology that kept Kenny alive even after Ryu punched a hole through his chest! This stuff ... this will definitely help seal up the bullet wound sooner."

"And make his body draw energy from light itself, turn him into a mere silhouette of himself … a SHADOW!!" Wolfman countered. "You weren't there when Chun Li and Charlie were subjected to it. Charlie DIED because of it!"

"This is a different model. This is my model, the one Genta and the bodyguard panel were outfitted with. They can harness the Shadow power without losing their minds."

"That shit's caused him so much pain, though," Wagner said regretfully. "Katarina, don't you think he'd rather be dead than have to live with it again?"

"He's only been living without it for two days, if even," she replied, slipping the needle out. "Besides, he's going to need it if he's to defend himself against Genta."

"What are you talking about?" Wagner asked.

"Genta's dead," Julian said, almost defensively. "I stabbed him. Drove Vega's claw straight through his body. He's not coming back."

"He's been injected with this," Katarina said, holding up the now empty vile. "You don't honestly expect him to stay dead, do you?"

There was silence from the rest, and Katarina shook her head in disapproval at herself. "It's all my fault. Everything that's happened – if I hadn't resurrected Vega, if I had just let the Shadow Technology die…"

"You were made false promises," Wolfman said gently, laying a hand on her shoulder, "and you did what you were told in hopes that those promises were kept. The only people who knew what they were doing were the heads of that corporation.

"Besides, the most important thing is now you realize what Shadowlaw is all about. And you've joined us in our fight against them. I just hope you're with us for good."

"Until the end," Katarina promised, clutching the empty vile to her heart.

**XXXXX**

Chun Li spotted the ragtag group of fighters from a few hundred feet away, recognizing their silhouettes against the fading sunlight from that of the irregular pieces of rubble and dead bodies strewn about. She bee-lined it straight for the group as fast as her healing body would allow her to move. When her progress was too slow for her liking, she screamed out.

"Wolfman!"

The group turned their heads to look in her direction. Now that she had their attention, she could afford to slow her pace and catch her breath. But she couldn't. Something didn't feel right. Something inside of Chun Li told her something sinister was about and whatever it was recognized itself in her as well. She stopped cold in her tracks.

"You should be resting at the hotel," Wolfman said. "Chun Li … are you okay?"

She could hear his words but didn't pay them any attention. Instead, her narrow eyes scanned the surrounding area, searching for the source of her uneasiness, finally resting on Kenny, still being held aloft by Julian.

"Put him down, Marquez," she ordered.

"It's okay," Julian said, trying to reassure her. "Katarina just …"

"I said PUT HIM DOWN!" Chun Li screamed so loud that it startled Julian. He hastily rested Kenny's body on the ground and stepped away, letting her approach him. Chun Li knelt down by Kenny's unconscious body and reached out to touch his forehead.

But before her fingers could make contact, Kenny's eyes burst open, startling anyone who was watching. There was no life in them, no glimmer of emotion; just cold, pale irises glowing green. His pale skin blackened in an instant, along with the colours of the tattered clothes he still wore. Kenny didn't get up from his position lying down. He rose up, as if his body was being propped by an invisible board. The energy he absorbed from the weakening sunlight was enough to power him, erupting around his body so powerfully, it hurt to just look at him.

"The Shadow Technology!" Chun Li cried. That was what she had recognized inside him; the evil technology that had once possessed her body so long ago.

Like a bullet, moving at inhuman speeds, Kenny leapt at Julian faster than Julian could see coming. His reactions kicked in and Julian raised his arms to protect his face, but Kenny landed quickly behind him, holding Vega's claw in one outstretched arm.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Julian whispered in awe.

Julian's gaze traced the direction Kenny's arm was pointing in, back over his own shoulder towards another figure identical to Kenny's Shadow state. The claw – the figure had thrown Vega's claw like a projectile at Julian so fast, he hadn't seen it coming. Kenny had snatched it out of midair before it could pierce Julian's body the very same way he had rammed it through Genta's. And Genta was standing right there …

The realization had barely hit Julian when the two boys once again locked in combat. And this time, they were powerless to stop it.

**XXXXX**

Kenny and Genta attacked each other with devastating fury, and frighteningly calculated strikes and blocks, with speeds that would put a Bushin ninja to shame. The most frightening aspect was the silence with which they fought. There were no emotions involved; just strategic calculation. Neither boy uttered a word, let alone a whisper. The only sound being produced was that of their clothes flapping and the hiss of parting air as limbs pierced it like a bullet. The two Shadow Soldiers fought like ninjas with the speed and precision of machines, moving around each other, punching and kicking in combination attacks, countering with more endless strikes strung fluidly in one swift motion.

Kenny suddenly switched attack patterns. He somersaulted in the air at Genta, letting himself fall head first. When he was at waist level with the other Shadow Soldier, wrapped his arms about his torso and used the momentum to flip around again, throwing Genta into the ground with a pile driver. Instead of letting go however, Kenny ran along the ground, dragging Genta along with him while the other struggled against his grasp.

He didn't slow down but picked up speed as he ran farther, dragging Genta the whole way. Gathering strength in his arm, Kenny suddenly jammed his heels into the ground, using all the momentum he'd gained thus far by flinging Genta's body whole into a large pile of rubble that once served as the spectator bleachers.

Genta crashed into the pile of wood and steel rubble but stayed down for barely a few seconds before emerging from the rubble as if shot out of a cannon, and went straight for Kenny. Thin strips of what looked like lasers shot out from his fingers but wrapped around Kenny's body like ribbons of red light. The strings of light, still connected to Genta's finger tips, tightened their hold on Kenny's body and detonated. Kenny emerged unscathed from the smoke and fire but it was clear his movements were starting to slow.

And so was Genta's, apparently, as he didn't spot Kenny emerging from the clouds of dust soon enough, before he ate a heel to the chin that launched him high up into the air. Kenny jumped after his target and met him in midair with a left hook, right elbow, double kicked with his left leg and a flip kick with his right, sending Genta crashing back to the ground. Kenny didn't stop his assault there as he descended upon his target like an owl to a rat, feet first. Before Kenny could execute another combination attack on Genta however, something larger and heavier than him slammed into his body, throwing him off course.

Kenny hit the ground hard. His mind swam in the waters of disorientation and he struggled to make sense of where he was, what he was feeling, and what he was doing.

"Get up," he heard someone say, and felt his body being helped off the ground. His legs stood on their own, leaning on someone else's weight to support him.

Through his blurry, focusing vision, Kenny saw the dark form of Genta, black as night, emitting a greenish aura from his body. Just a stone throw away was the same demon that had attacked him and Cranky at his apartment in Osaka. The two didn't seem to be fighting on the same side, but they had one thing in common – their targets were standing in the same spot.

"Ryu," Kenny croaked.

"We have to end this," Ryu replied quietly. "This is no time to quit the battle."

"I'm not quitting," Kenny said, "I'm just …" he opened his palms and stared into them, seeing the colour return to them. No … He didn't need this now. He didn't need the Shadow Technology to go back into recession. What he needed was …

Genta's fist slammed into his jaw before he could finish his thought. Ryu stepped in front of Genta to prevent a further attack, but Akuma unleashed a flurry of air projectiles at Ryu, who failed to block them in time. Their two broken bodies struggled to get back up as Genta and Akuma stalked slowly towards them, enjoying the sight of Ryu and Kenny realize their fear before they dealt the finishing blow.


End file.
